Adventure of the Planet of the Apes
by Altril
Summary: A young human girl somehow finds her way to the Planet of the Apes. Can she help Ari and Thade get along or will war break out? [Chapters 1-7 Edited!] Wow! Finally chapter nine is done. It's really short, but that's okay!
1. Chapter One: Falling

Adventure of the Planet of the Apes

Disclaimer: I own absolutely nothing of the Planet of the Apes. My respect for the wonderful author, Pierre Boulle, the book was so awesome that I keep reading it over and over again. So only a few people in here are mine. Hannah and Sarah belong to themselves. I don't own any Tolkien quotes either.

A/N: I have wanted to this for a long time, but now I finally have the nerve to type it up.

Chapter One: Falling

I could feel myself start falling as my feet slipped out from under me. It was misting in our small town of Creighton, but that did not discourage my friends and I from going out and running around. The equipment on the playground was slippery and the bottoms of my shoes were slick. I had already fallen a number times and knew that I would feel it the next morning. But this time when my hands went down to break my fall I could not feel anything but the air rushing down and taking me with it. Hannah or Sarah, I couldn't tell which one, let out a horrible scream then all was black and still.

"Ari, I thought I told you not to bring anymore stray humans home," a voice penetrated through the darkness into my head. Strangely enough the first thing I thought was that I had fallen through to Middle Earth and was now in the house of Elrond.

"But father-" I started paying attention to the voices again, "-you know what the gorilla army would have done to her if I hadn't brought her here." _Gorilla army. Ari._ That sounded so familiar, but I just couldn't…. _Planet of the Apes!_ I focused on my breathing making sure it was deep and calm so the chimpanzees would not notice that I had over heard them.

"What am I going to do with you, Ari? There is no room in our house for us to live, with all the humans you seem to be rescuing these days. The kitchen is almost full so there is no room for her there. It is out of the question, we cannot keep this 'wild' human in our house."

Someone sighed, I assumed that it was probably Ari. Suddenly reality and fear gripped at my heart. I was on a planet of talking apes with no family, no friends, not a single soul I knew. If I was not allowed to stay with them then I would be thrown out and most likely killed.

"But, Father, please! How do we know that she is 'wild' as you put it? There is plenty of space to make her a pallet on the floor of my room."

"How did it come to this?" To me it sounded as if he was talking to himself. "What would your mother say if she were here now?" A deep silence resonated through out the room. I could sense the tension between father and daughter. After a good deal of though the senator answered: "She may stay."

"Thank you father!"

"But make sure she stays clean."

After I heard that I would be allowed to stay I promptly passed out again. I assume that someone carried me to Ari's room since the noise of the street sounded much more distant. My eyes fluttered open. Light flooded in and I quickly threw my arm over my face to block out the sunlight. I felt a hand (or paw, not quiet sure what to call it) on my arm. "You're awake." Quickly I bit back a sharp remark that hopped to my tongue. I removed my arm from across my eyes; my heart jumped up into my throat. "It's alright, I'm not going to hurt you. Just try to calm down."

It is one thing to watch talking apes in the comfort of your own home on the television, but when you are face to face with on it is a lot different. Unconsciously I had scooted away from Ari. As a human on this strange and backwards planet, it was a perfect reaction even though I had not premeditated. "Where am I?" I hadn't meant to speak.

"This is Ape City. I found you outside the walls during my walk. My father has agreed for me to keep you here to work."

"What duty would you have me do?" Inside I was laughing at my own joke. Even in unusual circumstances it still amazed me that I had the clarity of mind to quote the _Lord of the Rings._

"Duty? You are just recovering from a major head injury. I am not like other apes that would have killed you. They would have if I had not found you first." I felt very much like a child being scolded. "Come, have something to eat."

Ari tossed me a ripe banana. Unintentionally one of my eyebrows shot up. Believe me I will eat almost anything, but I cannot and will not eat banana's. So I sat there on my "bed" and held the banana.

"Go on, eat."

"No thanks," my reply caught Ari off guard.

"You don't want to eat?"

"No, its alright, I'm not hungry." Yet again I accidentally quoted LotR. "You can have the banana back," I said as I help the disdainful piece of fruit out for her to take.

She looked at the banana that I was holding out to her. "Are you sure that you are not hungry?" Ari asked as she gently removed the banana from my hand

.

"It's okay, I don't need to eat." Suddenly a pounding headache attacked my poor little 'ol head. "Ah!" A sound cry emitted from my mouth as I placed my hand on my head as a reaction.

"Lay down," said Ari as she pushed me back down on the pallet. "You have a big lump on your head from where you feel and hit it. Just stay still until the vet can come examine you."

_Alright, __Taylor__,_ I thought to myself. _You have to remember that apes are in charge and that human's are considered to be stupid. You need to act a little more like a slave. Dang! I must have hit my head pretty hard to make it hurt like this. I probably have a concussion. Can't-go-to-sleep! _I yawned, because I knew if I did I could possibly slip into a coma.

"Is this the human you wanted me to take a look at? A new voice filled my head. I must have fallen asleep while talking to myself. I guessed that the "vet" had finally arrived.

Slowly I opened my eyes to find myself looking at an elderly gorilla. Immediately I dropped my eyes, not daring to make any contact. A furry hand or paw slid behind my back and forced me to come into a sitting position.

The gorilla pulled out a stethoscope from his black case, next he pulled out and instrument that resembled what nurses usually use to take your blood pressure. _Okay, try to act like you have never seen any piece of medical equipment. _When he tried to wrap the blood pressure thing around my arm I jerked back and almost lost my balance. "Come on now, don't act like that. This won't hurt you. Ari come here," he motioned to her. "Look, I will just put it around your arm like this," he used Ari as an example, "then I will squeeze it and it will be all over in a minute." I consented to having him do it. Then he reached for his stethoscope and trying to place it against my chest. Again I flinched, not jumping as far this time. "Now don't be afraid. I won't hurt you this time either," the vet spoke in a soft mellow voice trying to sooth me. "Watch," he put the stethoscope against his own chest to show me that it wouldn't harm me. "It is your turn, now just relax." I purposely tensed my muscles and widened my eyes so it would seem like I was still not sure. Finally the vet was able to listen to my heart. "Breathe in." I stayed at the same breathing level keeping it calm and even.

"Dr. Kimba, is it possible that she doesn't know what you mean? I mean, maybe it would help if you showed her what you wanted her to do."

"Thank you, Ari, but I think I know a little more about humans that you do," a low growl came from deep in his throat. "I need for you to take a deep breath, like this…." Dr. Kimba breathed in then exhaled while I concentrated on following his example.

Suddenly my stomach rumbled, giving away the fact that I was very hungry indeed. "Ow!" The vet prodded the back of my head. My hand wrapped around the back of my head, what I felt was a very large lump that my hand could barely cover.

"That is quiet a bump you managed to get there. Would you like to tell me how you got it. I won't let them hurt you again."

I could tell that Dr. Kimba was much more comfortable talking to humans that he was to apes. In a way I could relate to him because I have never really been accepted by people. "No one hurt me. I tripped and fell and must have hit my head." It was close to the truth. "Why would someone want to hurt me?" If I could learn more about apes then hopefully I could figure out a way to get back home. Acting I knew nothing of their culture would be easy since I didn't really know all that much.

Ari and the vet exchanged glances. "Could you tell me how you came to be outside of our city?"

"I don't know." My eyes met his.

"What do you mean?" Ari curiously questioned me. "No human I have ever met would intentionally come as close to the city walls as you did."

Frustration rose up in me. "I did not **mean** to come to this blasted city at all. Not my first choice to live like a slave. I don't know about you, but that doesn't sound like a whole lot of fun to me!" After I had said all that the room was silent. I realized that humans don't talk to apes like that, it just isn't how things work. "Please forgive me. I didn't mean to say any of that."

"No, I think you did. I could tell by the way you talked that you really feel that way. Don't you? I have never heard a human speak like that to an ape before." Ari seemed puzzled at my out burst, not the least ways offended though.

"For one, she is not afraid of apes like most humans are, Ari."

"Second of all I don't enjoy being stereotyped," I looked up. "I didn't mean to say that out loud. Oh gosh, don't listen to me." I wanted to cry, but I couldn't let them see that I was weak.

"Here, have a banana. If you eat something it will make you feel better," tears blurred my eyes so I couldn't see as I tried to push the banana way.

"No thank you."

"Ari, there is nothing more I can do for her since she won't eat." I could hear the vet unfold a piece of paper and start writing. "These are some simple instructions for you to follow."

"Thank you, doctor. I am so sorry that I brought you here for nothing.

"It wasn't for nothing. I suggest that you let her sleep as much as she will for at least three days. If you need anything you can call for me at anytime day or night. This human girl is like no other I have ever met. Good day." With that I hear the vet lumber down the stairs and out the door.

A hairy paw was laid on m shoulder, "Just lay down and try to sleep." I curled up on my side and rolled over to face the wall. All the stress had completely exhausted me, and before I knew it I was asleep.

This is my first try at a _Planet of the Apes _fan fiction so please forgive any little mistakes. I love to hear what you think of it.


	2. Chapter Two: Thade

Adventure of the Planet of the Apes

Disclaimer: I own absolutely nothing of the Planet of the Apes. My respect for the wonderful author, Pierre Boulle, the book was so awesome that I keep reading it over and over again. So only a few people in here are mine. Hannah and Sarah belong to themselves. I don't own any Tolkien quotes either.

A/N:  Yeah! This is the second chapter that I am finally typing up. Don't be afraid to hurt my feelings and tell me what you really think.

Jo March95- I am so glad that you liked this story and I will try to update as soon as I can.

Jay- I promise that I will not abandon this story. You will get to see a lot of Thade in this and the rest of the chapters. I am not sure if you will like the way that I am doing Thade because it is a little different. Lol. So here it is!

Chapter Two: Thade

As I watch the human girl sleep I feel very protective of her. She seems so innocent in the way that apes and humans lives. This girl is like no other human I have ever met. One moment the girl was shy, wanting to do her very best for everyone and then the next she was alive. I can see how her temper would make a lot of apes angry and almost kill her like they did, but she says it was not so. While she sleeps peacefulness covers her face and she is relaxed. Gently I brush a piece of hair back out of her eyes, but it falls back after I remove my finger. Finally when I was tire of watching the girl sleep I took out my diary and began to write out all the details of the day. By writing down my thoughts I have always been able to sort out my mind.

_Today when I got up the sun was already shining so I knew that my father would be at the senate. This was good because I wanted to go out of the city for a walk without having to take on the servants with me like father usually makes me. _I stopped writing and chewed thoughtfully on the end of my pencil then began to write again. _Well, I went down stairs and I had the new human girl, Bon fix me some breakfast, for such a young human she is extremely talented in the art of cooking. But of course cooking in the kitchen of a senator would be easy compared to some of the homes that have humans now a days. It frustrates me to no end that we apes can enslave humans so readily. I mean… what if it were humans in charge? Would they treat us with the same distain that we treat them? _This was something I had been thinking a lot about lately, but had never really had the courage to put it down in words on paper because it seemed to so… so… anti-ape. "Hum," I sighed to myself and continued to write. _Without telling anyone where I was going, I know father would be furious if he knew that I had done so, I put on a light coat and headed out the back door without a care. Lately my best friend, Thade, has been acting rather strange around me. He kisses my hand and calls me by pet names that mother and father used to call each other when my brothers and I were not suppose to be able to hear. It gives me a tingling sensation in the pit of my stomach, but I like it. What ever does it mean? Thade is my best friend and even though he is not overly fond of humans he respects what I believe in. I can tell him absolutely everything; there is nothing about me that I don't think Thade knows. _

_Well, as I was going for my walk Thade passed me in the street, yet I almost did not want him to see me because he was sure to ask if my father knew that I was out alone, but then again I did want to see him because… _I did not know why I wanted to see him all I knew was that I did. Throwing my pencil down didn't seem to be helping things much either. _But, I did end up talking to him for just a moment, and he said something strange about coming over to talk to my father later. Anyways he was to busy to stay for long so he didn't get the chance to ask me whether or not I was suppose to be out without someone with me. I went on my way trying to look as innocent as I could without drawing much attention to myself. There are three ways to get out of Ape City, one was to use to big front gate that lead out into the jungle, but only merchants used it, two was to use the back gate into the land beyond, mostly on retired apes went that way to get away from the hectic life of the city, and the third way was to use the secret door in the wall that lead out into the forest. This was the way that I used because it would seem more likely for me, a senators daughter, to be seen going towards the senate building than out of the city. Because the tunnel was so near the Senate building I had to be very careful about not being out in the open where my father or one of his friends could possibly see me, so I stayed in the shadows and crept closer to the door and finally… _Freedom! _I was out of the city and on the other side of the walls with nothing to stop me from doing anything._

_It was, as it usually is, much brighter outside of the city than it is on here. The air seems much more breathable and not quiet so closed the wide openness made my heart soar! I made my way into the forested area without looking over my shoulder. Trees swayed over head and a gentle breeze blew my hair into my face and swirled the leaves along the forest floor. Soon a giant tree loomed in front of me, its branches spread out giving it the appearance of an umbrella, this is my tree and I love to go there and just sit in its arms forever. The first time I ever went there was when my mother was taken from us about seven years ago. _

Flashback

'Ari, come quickly!' Called her older brother, Galen, who raced up the stairs towards their parent's bedroom. Ari, the youngest and only female child of Senator Sandar and his wife Sari followed her brothers up the stairs wondering what the matter was. When they reached the upper level of the house all the apes were starting to become frightened, never had their father allowed them to come home early from school unless something was dreadfully wrong. Finally after what seemed like an eternity their father opened the door and beckoned his children to come in, Dr. Bourl and his young apprentice Kimba crowed around the bed trying to ease Sari's pain for the time. There was blood all over the bed, the sheets and the floor. Panic came over Ari as she saw her mother lying helpless on the bed surrounded by strange medical instruments, what had the doctor done to her mother! Just as she was about to run to her mother side her father caught her and held his precious child close to him so that she would not get in the way of the doctor who had just helped Sari give birth. The young ape had been born dead and its mother was not strong enough to live either, this was the reason that Sandar had sent for his child to come home so early. He was brought back into reality as Ari struggled to get away from him and go to her mother; both of her brothers, Nat and Galen were standing in the door way not sure what they should do.

'Sons, come over here,' Sandar drew his sons close to his side, this might be the last time that they were all together as a family, 'quickly, quickly! It will be all right, you will see. It will be all right in the end.' It was more for his own comfort that Sandar said these words. Galen buried his head in his father's senatorial robes to hide the tears that were coursing down his face, while Nat just stood by his father's side trying to be brave, but Ari wasn't sure what she should be doing. Why was she not allowed to see her momma and why was her brother crying? All these thoughts ran through her nine year old brain.

After a few minutes Dr. Bourl and Kimba started to gather things up. 'Senator Sandar, I have done all that I can for your wife. She is as comfortable as I can possibly make her at this time. I would suggest that you leave her to rest today and tomorrow.' As much as he wanted to tell the Senator that there was not much hope for his wife, he did not want to upset the children.

'Doctor, please, tell me… Will she-'the words stuck in his throat, '-will she live? Don't try to soften the blow it would be to hard.'

Bourl sighed, this was not going to be easy but it was all part of being a doctor. 'There is very little chance that she will live to see the mornings light. She has lost a lot of blood, in the best case scenario, she could possibly live through out the week, but chances of that are very slim. I would suggest that you and your children say goodbye for she passes on the realm of Semos. Kimba and I will be cleaned up shortly then we will leave you to yourselves.' With that Bourl began to pack up his medical things and directed Kimba to do the same. The young gorilla was very good at the medical practice and would one day make a great doctor, so Bourl had taken him under his wing to show him the ropes. Bringing him to what was suppose to be an easy birth sounded like a good idea, but when the mother miscarried things had gotten messy quickly now the good doctor did not have any hopes of Kimba ever wanting to practice medicine again. 'Come, Kimba, we will leave them alone to grieve in peace.' They left the Senator and his family alone with their beloved wife and mother.

'Momma!' Ari finally free of her father's arms ran to the bed where her mother was lying. 'No, momma, please don't leave me. I love you!' Tears streamed down Ari's face and hit her mother's pillow.

'Hush, Ari. Big apes don't cry now do they?' Her mother gently stroked her daughter head, trying to put away her own pain. 'Galen, come here and give me a hug. How was your day at school today?' Sandar could hear the stress in his wife's voice; she was being so brave, trying to act like everything was normal. 'Nat, you are getting to look so much like you father. I heard that you had a game yesterday against the neighboring team. Did you win?'

'Yes, mother. I only wish that you could have been there! We beat them by at least fifteen points because their defense wasn't strong enough. I hope that you feel better soon.' Nat, the oldest of Sandar and Sari's children was almost out of school and very involved in all the sports he could be, but he was also very compassionate when someone was hurt.

Ari sat by her mother watching as she listened to her brothers talk about school and everything that had been happening. Noticing her daughter's unusual silence Sari only half listen to what her sons had been doing while she had been unwell. 'Daughter, what interesting things have you been doing?'

'I made a new friend, momma. Her name is Anna.'

'That is a very unusual name for an ape, is it not?'

'Oh! She isn't an ape, momma; she is the new human girl that Thade's father bought for him.'

Sari's brow wrinkled, she did not approve of apes owning humans and treating them as slaves, it was not right in her opinion. 'Really, now did he?' She shot her husband a death glare. How could he allow their youngest to be around such repulsing things!? 'I am sure that you were very polite to her and treated her with all the respect that you do your other friends.'

'Why should she?' Galen spoke up, 'Anna is nothing but a stinkin' human. She doesn't deserve any respect.'

'Galen! I would have never-'

'Don't speak to your mother in that way, son.' Sandar did not agree with his wife's strong views on the slavery issue and preferred to ignore them.

'Go on, Ari, your brother did not mean to interrupt you,' Sari encouraged her daughter.

'I tried to be nice to her because I knew that you would like it and I wanna be just like you, momma… When I get big! Thade wasn't very nice to her because he said that his papa didn't care and the girl was suppose to do what he wanted her to. It made me sad and I told him to stop, but he wouldn't.'

'Yeah! It was great,' broke in Nat, 'then Ari to a swing at him and knocked him down. She sure does hit hard for a she-ape!'

'You didn't did you, Ari?'

'Yes, momma, I did. He made me so mad, but we are best friends again and he said he wouldn't boss her around like that again.'

Sandar was afraid that his children were wearing their mother out. 'Children, I don't want to tire your mother out so maybe we should let her rest for a little bit then come back a little later. Come, go down stairs.' Gently he shoed his children out and sat down on the side of the bed and took his wife's hand in his. 'Love… I don't want to lose you; you seemed so strong around the children.'

'Sandy, please- I cannot stand to be here and leave our other child alone in death. Don't make it harder for me to go.'

'Are you in pain?'

'Not so very much right now. Stay with me for a while. Please?'

'Forever my love.' Sandar laid down beside his wife on their bed. They both closed their eyes; while Sandar drifted into a peaceful sleep his wife's spirit left her body and floated away to the heavens never to return to her beloved family. Almost immediately after Sari had passed away Sandar was aware that something was not right, he gathered his wife's body up in his arms and cried because it felt like part of him had also died with her.

I shook myself from my reverie and looked down at the page I had been writing on, tear marks bubbled up the page and smeared some of the ink. Finally I pulled myself together and began to write again…

 _It had been such a hard time for our family, Nat had left to live with some of his friends in another city and Galen and I had been left to ourselves and the care of the servants because father was always busy. Now Galen is gone and married so I am the only one left at home, it was very hard for father to part with Galen because he was his only son left at home. I don't think that I shall ever leave, or want to leave father because I am sure that he would not do well without me. Even though we never talk it seems like having me around the house is one of the only things that keeps him going, besides the senate that is. Maybe I am wrong in thinking that, but I don't know… One day I will meet someone that will sweep me off my feet and I will want to marry him and have his children, but not right now. Secretly I have become a part of a _Human's Right _coalition, but I cannot tell my father or he would forbid me to attend their meetings. They are quiet interesting and have helped me to understand why my mother felt the way she did-_

I looked up and stopped writing; I could hear footsteps echoing in the hall. Looking outside I could tell that an hour or more had passed while I was writing and remembering. Carefully I put away my writing things and listened to see if I could tell who was coming. _Thade._ My heart leapt in my chest at the thought of seeing my best friend, but why? More importantly, what would he think of the human I had brought home?

My door was slowly pushed open, and then I could see that my guess had been correct, it was Thade. As he stood in the door with the light silhouetting him I could not help but think to myself how handsome he looked. Quickly I punished myself for thinking such thoughts about my best friend; because I knew that he could not possibly think of me in that way. Without giving me time to think Thade was on the bed beside me, he looked excited for some reason. Gently he drew me to him and kissed my forehead, it was nothing but a friendly gesture I was sure because he had been doing that since I was a child. I forced myself to smile at him before taking a deep breath and telling him about the girl.

"Thade, I need to tell you something."

"What?" He almost looked panic stricken. "What is it that you need to tell me, Ari?"

"It is nothing bad, I just don't want you to become upset," I paused, Thade nodded his head for me to go on, "Well, I-I um… you see…"

"Ari, spit it out and tell me for Semos sake!"

My lips curled into a smile, then back into a frown. "Well, what I want to tell you was… ifoundahumangirlandibroughtherhomewithme." That was over with, now here comes the reaction…internally I cringed not wanting Thade to be mad at me. "Please, please don't be angry. I brought her home because I didn't want her to get killed or hurt or anything like that."

A variety of emotions crossed over Thade's face. Fear crept into my heart as he sat staring at me not saying a word. "Where is she?" It was so quiet that I had to strain to hear what he had said.

"Over there," my long finger directed his gaze to where the girl was sleeping. Because Thade's face was turned away from me, I could not tell whether he was angry, upset or displeased.

"She's different, Ari, no human here has ever dressed like that. Just look at her clothes, they were made by a machine, as are ours. But they were not made for an ape either. What are those covering her feet?" I cocked my head sideways and looked at her feet. There was some sort of cloth and leather type thing covering them tied with a cord, on the bottom was some strange material. Thade was right, the girl was wearing strange clothes for a human. I had not had the opportunity to take a really good look at her since I had half drug, half carried her home. She had chin length hair that was dark brown, it was nicely parted down the middle and very clean for a human. She was taller than a chimpanzee or an orangutan, but she was shorter than a gorilla. For a human I suppose she would have been thought to be pretty or at least attractive. "It is not safe for you to have her in your room, Ari."

"But, Thade, she isn't like the other humans, you said so yourself. When the vet came she made a comment about not wanting to be a slave." It seemed like Thade wasn't really interested in what I was saying so I hurried. "Please, try to understand, look at the way she sleeps. Most humans curl up, like they are trying to shield themselves from a blow, but she… she sleeps stretched out," I paused for effect, "She sleeps like an ape."

Thade cupped my face in his hands and looked into my eyes, "Ari, it is not the girl I am worried about, it is your safety. You are my bestest friend and I do not know what I would do if I ever lost you." Emotion clouded Thade's eyes as his throat clogged. "I don't think that I could go on living if you were taken from me." I could sense the depth of meaning in Thade's words, and I never wanted this moment to end. A noise from the across the room broke the serine moment between Thade and I. The girl was sitting up on the make-shift pallet, a wild look gleamed from her eyes, like when you corner a wild animal.

"Did you have a good rest?" My voiced sounded strained to my ears. Next to me I felt Thade tense, it was not his fault that his father had raised him to hate humans so much. Her eyes shifted from me to Thade then rested back on me again. "Yes, thank you. I apologize if I interrupted anything important." It surprised me that while she was talking she made a point of making direct eye contact with me, yet most humans would hardly dare talk to an ape let alone look on in the eye.

My contemplation was soon broken when Thade started asking her question.  "Do you have a name, or shall we just call you 'that human girl'?" The tone Thade was using was very analytical and condescending.

"Most people have a name, why shouldn't I?" It was easy to hear the challenge in her voice, "But.." she continued, "I shall tell you my name… if you really want to know." I watched as she sat there waiting for our response.

"Well," I hesitated, "it would be easier for us, and for you if we knew your name."

Her eyes lowered in submission because she probably realized she has spoken out of place. "Me llamo es Taylor. ¿Cómo te llamas?" There was a smirk of satisfaction on her face when she replied to use in that strange language. "I said, 'My name is Taylor, what is yours?'" It is very unusual for a human to be interested in apes, but she genuinely seemed intrigued.


	3. Chapter Three: A New Friend

Adventure of the Planet of the Apes

Disclaimer: I own absolutely nothing of the Planet of the Apes. My respect for the wonderful author, Pierre Boulle, the book was so awesome that I keep reading it over and over again. So only a few people in here are mine. Hannah and Sarah belong to themselves. I don't own any Tolkien quotes either.

A/N:  Wow! I got a lot of reviews this chapter, which makes me extra happy! Yeah, you guys are so awesome for reading this story. This chapter would have been done a lot sooner, but I was in Mexico for 10 days. So, now you will have another chapter to read.

JoMarch95- I am not going to abandon this story. You will have your update soon.

Virusea- It doesn't take a whole lot to be able to write like me, but I am very glad that you like this story. Just keep reminding me to update and bash me over the head if you must. Lol. That is what it will take.

Lina Inverse the Dramata- I know, daydreams are so nice. If Taylor would only stop that horrible mouth of hers this story would be easier for me to write. The funny thing is that I was kinda making her like me, but now she is completely different. I am shy and she is obviously not. Thank you for reviewing!

Jacqui12b- I am writing more! I am writing more! I am happy that you love it. Please continue reading it and reviewing.

Chimplady- I love your stories and you need to update as badly as I do. Lol. Thank you so much for the wonderful review. Finally someone else who appreciates Tolkien and PotA. I am a recent convert (Nov. 2003). My e-mail is on my bio if you want to talk anytime.

Enya- If you have a heart attack who review my stories? Please don't die, not yet anyways. Lol. I am very happy that you like this story and that you are pleased with my depiction of Thade. The way I perceive characters might not be the same way that everyone else does, so you will just have to live with it. But I am not planning to let my story rot. It will continue to be updated.

Chapter Three: A New Friend

Again my mouth was getting me into trouble. Why couldn't I just learn to keep my tongue behind my teeth and listen for once? Both Ari and Thade were staring at me because of my rash words. From then on I promised myself that I would keep my mouth shut and adapt a subservient attitude towards all apes. The realization that I no longer had the rights and freedoms that I had enjoyed as an American citizen hit me.

"Where did you learn a different language? Where is your tribe?" The harsh questions fell on my shoulders like sparks of fire.

I took a deep breath before answering, my eyes remained downcast. "My friend and I came up with our own way of speaking, sir." I knew that I had to lie because they would not believe that there was a real language called 'Spanish'. It would threaten them.

"That doesn't answer the question of where you come from."

"Thade!" Ari exclaimed, "Please, you are being too harsh on the girl. Try to be a little more understanding."

"He has every right to be angry with me. I have a terrible temper, and I should be punished for my rash behavior." My pride has always been a problem for me because I can't stand for anyone but me to be in control of what I do or don't do. "Right now," I began speaking again, "I don't know where I come from. I'm lost." Suddenly the realization that I might never see my family or friends ever again hit me. Unbidden tears sprang to my eyes as I thought about my mom, dad, sisters, nieces and nephews.

Ari stirred on the bed, I could hear the sheets rustle as she started to rise. "It isn't safe," Thade said to Ari as she started to walk towards me.

"She doesn't have anything. How would you feel if you had lost everything you had ever known?"

"What if she is lying? You don't have any proof of what she says is true. Humans are born liars, Ari. You can't trust 'em."

My throat was so clogged that I couldn't say a word in my defense, which was probably one of the best things that could have happened. How could he say such horrible things about me?

"Thade, please stop. It seems like you are only upsetting her more." There was a still silence throughout the room for a few stiff seconds. "You are also upsetting me."

When Thade spoke next there was a soft quality in his voice that told me he truly did care for Ari, and did not want to hurt her at any cost. This in turn made me wonder why he would change so much. "Forgive me, Ari, I had no intent of distressing you. But, please, you must understand that you cannot always believe that what a human says in true. Sometimes they don't even know they are lying."

"I know that, Thade, but, I also know that there are times when you need to let go of your doubts and trust your heart. If you promise to try to be a little more trusting then I will try to be a bit more cautious. Deal?"

"Deal." As I watched this exchange between Ari and Thade it reminded me of home, but contrasted sharply. It would not be easy to stop thinking of my home, but I steeled my will to make the best of it. Inadvertently my thoughts jumped to my boyfriend, Don, we were always at odds with each other, but we loved each other so much we could hardly stand to fight. During movies we would fight about what the characters were really thinking at the time and finally it would come to a truce somewhat similar to the one I had just witnessed.

Every year for three or four years I had gone to México and had learned to adapt into different cultures easily, so my problem was not trying to fit it, it was with a thing called respect. I would have to convince myself that the apes deserved the respect that I reserved only for special people such as my parents, teachers and other authority figures. During this brief period of contemplation the conversation between the two Simians in the room had once again turned to me.

"Taylor!"

"Yes, sir?" Out of habit I added 'sir' (or ma'am depending upon gender) to my reply.

"Ari, your mistress, asked you a question. Are you going to answer her?" Meekly I nodded my head yes. "Well?"

"Could you repeat the question…please?"

"Maybe you should pay a little more att…"

"Thade," there was a warning in Ari's voice; "you promised to be more understanding." The aforesaid monkey neither denied nor accepted the charge against him. "Thank you. Taylor," I raised my eyes, "I asked if you were hungry."

"Yes." I resolved that I was not going to give out anymore information than was requested of me.

"Good, you may follow me. I will show you the way to the kitchen where Bon will find you something to eat. You will be staying in my chambers as my hand maiden for the time being until a more permanent site is found." As I took in this information I untangled my long legs and meekly followed Ari to the kitchen while Thade brought up the rear. We used the back stairs because I suppose it would not do to have a human use the 'good' front stairs. When we reached the kitchen I saw a young woman of about twenty putting some wood in the fire box. "Bon," Ari addressed the girl, "find her some food. If she wants to clean up first show her where everything is." Without a please or thank you Ari and Thade quickly retreated through the door back the way we came.

"What do you want to eat?" Questioned the young Asian looking girl. _This must be Bon at a much younger age, _I thought to myself. _In the movie she was quiet a bit older. Maybe that is why Ari and Thade are still in such good relations, at this time._

"What are my options?"

"Bananas, apples, bread, gruel, rice or… Well, that is about all we humans are rationed. Oh!" She suddenly remembered something. "And we also are allowed some bean too." Obviously she had been a servant for quiet a while because she was eager to please everyone.

"A few beans and some rice, if it isn't too much trouble for you."

"No, that is no trouble at all," she smiled. "It seems like the mistress has taken a liking to you."

To me the idea of being a slave had not fully sunk in yet, I preferred to consider myself a 'servant.' Because I was rebelling against slavery it was difficult for me to comprehend who this 'mistress' was that Bon was talking about. "I'm sorry, but who?"

"Mistress Ari," Bon gave me an incredulous look. "You've never been a slave before have you?"

"What it that obvious?" We both laughed at my palpable joke, but then everything became serious again. "Back home," I started, _Not again,  I_ groaned to myself, but continued anyways. "Well, back home slavery is abolished and everyone is free to do what they want, within the law of course." _It could be worse. _Really? _Yes, you could have been a slave of another human being. It would be harder to be thought of as an animal by another human than by an ape. _I don't like you, you stupid little voice. _You don't have a choice. _"Yes I do!"

Bond looked at me. "Did I just say that out loud? Sorry. I just really miss my family." A heartfelt sigh escaped my lips.

Softly Bon placed her hand gently on my should and gave it a tender squeeze. "I have to admit I am glad you are here. As much as I love my brother, Trival, it will be good to have another woman around to talk with."

I turned around so that I could see her face. At 5 foot 7 inches I have never thought of myself as tall, but here I am almost taller than everyone. Her face was down so I gently lowered myself down to her level and said: "Thank you."

"For what?"

"Giving me a reason to live."

"Then you will be my friend? I've never had a real friend before," Bon ruefully admitted to me.

"Of course I'll be your friend. I'm running a little low on friends around here myself." I could not restrain myself from giving Bon a big hug as I saw a smile light up her face at my corny pun. Back home I was use to hugging everyone because our church is more like a big family than random people thrown together. Bon relaxed as she realized that I was showing affection, not hostility.

"No one, besides my brother, has ever shown me any kind of love before." Her eyes were moist and I admit that I selfishly did not really want to deal with a crying person I quickly changed the subject.

"Well, maybe you can return the favor by showing me how to cook."

Shock registered on her face, "You don't know how to cook?"

"I can do well enough at home with a microwave, but there isn't one here. So, now it is time for you to become my home ec teacher."

"Microwave? Home ec?"

"Never mind."

"Well, first you put the water on the stove to boil…" I let my mind wander as Bon gave me instructions on how to cook rice. For some reason it has always been easier for me to learn better when I don't completely pay full attention. Because if I do I end up focusing too hard and I get frustrated with myself, but if I allow myself to day dream I can almost recall anything I have ever learned.

Flashback

_"There is a curfew for humans!"_

_"They kill you on sight if they catch you."_

_"You're already dead if you stay here."_

_"I'm coming with you."_

_"Will you lead me back to the place they caught us?"_

_"Not without my family."**[1]**_

"She is such a wimp," Taylor remarked to her friend Jacqueline a.k.a. Jack.

"Come on, Tay, give her a break. How would you feel if you were suddenly taken away from all that you know and forced into something new?"

"I like new stuff."

"But if you thought that you were going to be killed… Wouldn't you want to preserve your life if possible?"

"I'm not scarred to die, and you know that."

"Come on, she is just not ready. This is some new radical idea. What if someone said that you could become immortal by smoking weed, would you smoke weed just to become immortal?"

"No, that is crazy. Everyone knows that smoking pot kills you faster. You would be stupid to believe that."

"Think of it from her point of view. She has never known the meaning of true freedom," Jack gave her friend a look.

Taylor was not happy that she had lost the debate; usually she won them hands down without really trying to think. "You might be right this time, Jack, but I won't let you win again." She attacked Jack with a pillow and a fight broke out as it usually did when those two were together. Finally after a few minutes of pounding each other with the pillows Taylor had the upper hand and finally won the battle.

"You might have won the battle, but I won the war. Who was the quicker thinker tonight… hum?"

"Watch your back you pirate, you might find a ice cube down it if you're not careful."

"Is that a threat?"

"No, it's a promise." Both girls laughed and continued watching the movie.

End Flashback

"…. And that is about all you have to do to make beans and rice." Reluctantly I returned from my day dreams back to reality.

"Thank you, Bon." With that I sat down at a small table with my meager fare. While I ate Bon sat with me and chatted about things she found interesting. Such as, the new servant over at Senator Nado's house, the baker shutting down and other such small doings that would appeal to a human of this planet. To me such comings and goings were of no importance, but I listened for Bon's sake. The thought occurred to me that I should take interest in the things that involved the human's it would help me to fit in better and somehow find a way to escape… one day. Most often during Bon's endless stream of talk her brother Trival was of man concern. It was obvious to me that she loved him very much, and I was glad, because it would be terrible to live in a loveless society.

A/N: This was an interesting chapter to write. Thank you all again for your wonderful support and forcing me to keep this story alive. I already had part of the next chapter written and hopefully it won't be as long before I update again.

* * *

[1] _Planet of the Apes 2001_


	4. Chapter Four: A Talk

Adventure of the Planet of the Apes

Disclaimer: I own absolutely nothing of the Planet of the Apes. My respect for the wonderful author, Pierre Boulle, the book was so awesome that I keep reading it over and over again. So only a few people in here are mine. I don't own any Tolkien quotes either.

A/N:  Oh, only one review this chapter. That's okay. I'm sure by writing two chapters and posting them soooo close together that people will eventually start reading this story again.

JoMarch95- Thank you for continuing to review my story and tell me good things about it. I am aware that my spelling and grammar is not always perfect.

Virusea- That actually means a lot to me. Because I do put a lot of myself into all my characters some people don't like it. They think that the author needs to stay uninvolved and on the sidelines. Taylor is a copy of me with a temper and a mouth that are out of control. It is fun to write a person who is a little out of control since I am such a naturally quiet person.

Chapter Four: A Talk

After I lead the girl down to the kitchen Thade and I went into the common room. It was nice just being able to sit by him without being worried about being interrupted. I could talk about everything that was worrying because Thade was kind enough to let me talk.

"You miss your brothers, don't you?"

"Yes, they are often on my mind, but at least… I still have you." I smiled up at Thade. Was I actually flirting with my best friend? Quickly I tried to shake the thought at of my head.

For a moment after I said that all time seemed to stand still as Thade looked into my eyes and said: "I will never you, Ari. I promise." There was sincerity in his voice that made my stomach feel like a million butterflies were flying around. Suddenly my throat closed as Thade came closer, I thought with anticipation that he might kiss me. Much to my relief, or was it disappointment, he backed away and observed me. The front door opened. "You're father is home." Neither of us felt like ruining the moment, but it seemed that there would be no way to once again recapture the serenity was had experienced.

Thade moved to get up off the couch. "Where are you going?" Had I said something to upset him, or maybe I should have said something. Why was he leaving so soon?

"I'll be back soon, Ari. There is an important matter which I must discuss with your father." Thade patted my hand, "It is nothing bad, in fact, it may be good for both of us." With that reassurance he rose quickly from the sofa and left. My thoughts were in turmoil, what could he mean 'good for both of us'? Sometimes the male race confuses me so that I can hardly think. Their thoughts seem to run in a million different directions, with no order at all.

_Well, I might as well go see what Taylor and Bon are doing in the kitchen. They are so different, I wonder if they were able to get along. _I allowed myself to follow that train of thought as I made my way into the kitchen. Right before I stepped into the kitchen I could hear Bon and Taylor laughing and talking together as if they had known each other forever. Usually Bon was quiet and reserved, she never seemed to laugh or take part in any fun her brother, Trival, might think up. Now she seemed happy to have another female companion to chat with. I walked into the kitchen, pretending that I had not stopped at all. "Oh!" Bon stood up from her chair and dropped a quick curtsy in my direction. Taylor rose from her chair while giving me a curious looked and gave me a quick nod with her head to show that she acknowledged my presence, not a normal human behavioral trait. But it did prove that she had learn when to show respect, and considering that when she had first arrived she had not shown any. This girl was obviously very smart, as far as humans can be considered smart, because she could learn so quickly.

"Is there anything you would like, mistress Ari?" How many times would I have to tell Bon not to call me 'mistress Ari'? In my father or Thade presence I would allow it, but away from the public eye I didn't like formalities.

"No, I do not require anything… except"- both Taylor and Bon stopped, as if I were going to give them some superhuman task, "-except for you to stop addressing me as 'mistress Ari' when no one else is around."

"Yes, mis- I mean, Ari." So far Taylor had stayed quiet, observing Bon's interaction with me.

"It seems like you two are getting along well. Was the food to your liking, Taylor?"

She seemed to be fighting and struggling against saying something disrespectful. "Yes, thank you. _La comida esta excellente, gracias."_

"Uh?" Both Bon and I were confused by hearing an unknown language spoken. "Is that the same language that you and your friend made up?"

"_Sí._" A smirk showed on her face. _I do believe that she is teasing me. That is definitely not something a human from around here would do. No human would ever presume to joke with an ape. Humans have no sense of humor. _

Bon's eyes got big, "You can speak a different language?" Now I was certain that she held Taylor in awe, neither of us had ever met a human like her. For a moment I felt as naïve as Bon looked.

"_Sí, hablan_ _español. ¿Tú?_" The girl smiled a us, as I would want to smile down at a human would could not comprehend what I was saying. For the first time in my entire life I have known the humility that apes cause humans to feel. "Sorry, I know that I am provoking you. Really, I don't mean to do it, but it comes so naturally when I can understand and you can't.

This made sense to me, but why she would want to do it if she knew she shouldn't was beyond me. _Maybe she does it for the same reason you ran off without permission this afternoon?_ Where had that come from? At times there was an annoying little voice in me head the tried to reason with me, but I never really wanted to listen to it because it was usually right when I was wrong. "In one way I can understand what you mean. Come, sit. You don't have to stand." Taylor pulled up a chair and sat down, but Bon was a little bit more reserved.

"For crying out loud in St. Petersburg, sit down." Taylor pulled a chair out for Bon and motioned for her to sit in it.

"You are very different."

"Thank you."

"Why would you say that? I didn't compliment you, you know."

"Yes, but it has been at least two days since anyone has told me that, so it was good to hear it again."

Taylor certainly was a strange girl. "So, Taylor, tell me a bit about yourself."

"I'm younger than you think I am. I have two older sisters, two brother-in-laws, two nephews, two nieces, a mom and dad, grandparents and lots of friends. Just like quote un quote normal person would have. What about you?"

The question took me by surprise. Never had a human shown interest in an ape before. "Um, well, I have two older brothers and one is now married. Huh, I live here with my father and my hum-, well, now you. My best friend is Thade and uh… not much else. Do you have a best friend?"

"I use to, but that was a couple years ago. Things just happened that were meant to happen. It ended out good in the end, though I'm still not very fond of her. How could I expect to be when she broke my trust in her and took part of me away?"

"You truly loved her didn't you?" There was something about her, almost, ape like. "But the sacred scrolls say that humans are incapable of love, or even the simplest emotion."

"If you don't mind me saying –I'm not trying to insult you or anyone else- but I don't think those sacred scrolls know a damn thing about humans. Believe me, I don't swear very often, only when I need to make a point."

I smiled at her irony, she was so like me, willing to make a difference, but not knowing how. "You're not from around here."

"Didn't we already go over this? Hitler –I mean- Thade, already put me through the inquisition and back again. No, I'm not from around here. Stupid soup Nazi's."

"Soup Nazi's?"

"Never mind. I'm obsessed with history. Particularly the American Civil War and World War II, but none of that matters or exist now," she ended sadly.

"How would a human know all that? You must come from a long distance from here since no one has ever spoken of such things before." The look of remorse on Taylor's face told me that she thought she had over stepped her bounds. "This is all very interesting. I would like to know more." I caught myself before I laughed out loud. Was there anything that I, an ape, could actually learn from a human? The very thought was ridiculous.

"If you think you could learn from a lowly human."

I was shocked. It was almost like she had read my very thoughts. This gave me a unnerved feeling. "Well, I have things to do so I will leave you two to clean up. Once you are done, Taylor, you may return to my chambers or stay here with Bon for a while before bed."

"Thank you, ma'am."

I ignored her last remark and went on my way. Would I ever be able to understand this new human girl I had found? _Doubtful.__ She is too much like you for you two to get along very well. _Oh, shut up. _No, I won't shut up just because you tell me to. _I am such an idiot because I am fighting with myself. _It is not as uncommon as you think. You know that the girl is not from around here. Telling father would be a wise thing to do. _But I don't want her to get hurt or… or anything like that. _Um hum… don't we know it. _Go away! Finally the little voice in my head did go away. Why was it so persistent about this girl and knowing where she came from? But then again, why was I so insistent about protecting her? There was no reason I should care for a humans well being.

A/N: And that concludes this weeks episode of _The Adventures of the Planet of the Apes. _Tune in next week for more of your favorite (if it isn't your favorite it should be) fan fiction. Written by the almost-not quiet- famous…. Altril. Here is a sneak peak at what you can be expecting….:

Knock, knock, knock! Sandar looked up from the paperwork scattered all over his desk. _Who would need me at this time in the afternoon. The senate session only ended a few minutes ago, they could not have come up with any problems since then. But then again… they could have. Well, it cannot be Ari, Galen or Nat, none of my children would ever feel the need to knock. Oh well, might as well find out who it is. _"Come in!"

After a few seconds of hesitation Thade pushed the door open to face his destiny. All his life Thade had been in love with Ari, but only in the last few weeks had he been able to gain the courage to face her father. Of course, he had known Sandar since before he could remember and had always felt at ease around him, but since wanting Ari he had not been as comfortable as before.

"Well, hello, Thade. I wasn't excepting you. Come. Sit down."

"Thank you, sir," said Thade as he pulled a chair in front of Sandar's desk.

Thade seemed overly nervous to Sandar, but he decided to ignore it. It was unusual for the son of his friend to be uncomfortable in his presence, so he, Sandar, wanted to put Thade at ease. "What has your father been doing lately? I have missed my visits with my old friend."

It was


	5. Chapter Five: Yes or No

Adventure of the Planet of the Apes

Disclaimer: I own absolutely nothing of the Planet of the Apes. My respect for the wonderful author, Pierre Boulle, the book was so awesome that I keep reading it over and over again. So only a few people in here are mine. I don't own any Tolkien quotes either.

A/N: I thought about having Taylor break her nose in the chapter so that I could make her suffer as much as I am, but I decided against it. Believe me, it is not a nice thing to have a broken nose. That is partially why it has taken me so long to update.

JoMarch95- Thanks, I liked the little sneak peek myself, just because I thought that I would be adding that part to the last chapter, but I didn't have anymore than that written. Thank you for your review.

Virusea- I also enjoy when people put themselves into a story too. Thank you for being so supportive. We need to get more people to update so that I can more stuff to read. Grrr! Oh well, I still am interested in your story. Update soon! Thank you again and again.

Larry- You are the first person to actually criticize my work, and I appreciate that. I have to agree that Ari's perspective is much easier for me to write than Taylor's, but I'm not sure why. Thank you for pointing out that PotA reference make the story a little boring. Your opinion is something that I needed badly. Thank you for reviewing and again for being able to tell me what needed work.

Elaine- Hahahaha. I find it kinda of funny that Larry likes Ari POV better and that you like Taylor's. But then again that is the different between men and women.

Ms. Thang- You will soon know what happens. I love leaving people hanging.

Enya- I'm not abandoning this story. Hehehe. Cliffies are so much fun to write now that I have the hang (no pun intended) of writing them. Still glad that you like this story so much!

Knock, knock, knock! Sandar looked up from the paperwork scattered all over his desk. _Who would need me at this time in the afternoon. The senate session only ended a few minutes ago, they could not have come up with any problems since then. But then again… they could have. Well, it cannot be Ari, Galen or Nat, none of my children would ever feel the need to knock. Oh well, might as well find out who it is. _"Come in!"

After a few seconds of hesitation Thade pushed the door open to face his destiny. All his life Thade had been in love with Ari, but only in the last few weeks had he been able to gain the courage to face her father. Of course, he had known Sandar since before he could remember and had always felt at ease around him, but since wanting Ari he had not been as comfortable as before.

"Well, hello, Thade. I wasn't expecting you. Come, sit down."

"Thank you, sir," said Thade as he pulled a chair in front of Sandar's desk.

Thade seemed overly nervous to Sandar, but he decided to ignore it. It was unusual for the son of his friend to be uncomfortable in his presence, so he, Sandar, wanted to put Thade at ease. "What has your father been doing lately? I have missed my visits with my old friend."

It was very unusual for Thade to suffer from anxiety or nervousness so he was very glad when Sandar started talking about a neutral subject. "My father is very well, but is also very busy. The humans seem to grow in population each day, they are multiplying fast than the army can contain them."

"Yes, these human rights activist are becoming a little too bold. I don't believe that all humans should be done away with, but the trouble makers do need to be punished." Sandar did not want to present himself as an activist for the human, yet he did not want it to appear that he supported the ape army and their cruelty, he knew that one day Thade would most likely become a general after his father retired.  "So, what did you come to talk to an old, like me, about?"

Thade's mouth became dry and his palms because sweaty and clammy. "Um… well, you see… I came to talk about, you know…" Sandar motioned for Thade to keep going, trying to follow the younger apes train of thought. After taking a deep breath Thade took the fatal plunge. "MayImarryyourdaughter?"

The usually stoic senator was absolutely shocked. For many years he had believed that Ari would eventually marry Thade, just because it would make sense. Not only because they were best friends, but also because of political issues. But Sandar had not expected it so soon. "What did you say?" He hoped that his ears had lied to him, but he didn't place much faith in that hope.

After finally saying it Thade was emboldened to speak his mind. "Sir, I love your daughter and I want to marry her."

"I see," Sandar was in a quandary about what to do. Ari was only sixteen, of course it was common for young she-apes to become engaged by the time they were sixteen or seventeen and not marry till they were nineteen or twenty.  This was a well respected part of ape life and Sandar and his wife had been engaged for three years till their parents finally allowed them to marry, but this was different. Ari was his baby, how could he give her up? _Esau probably thought that when you asked him for Sari's hand. I know, but this is Ari. It seems like yesterday she was a baby in my lap. The boy does love her, but does he really mean it? _"Tell me, Thade, why do you think that you would be a good husband for Ari?"

Carefully Thade thought about how he should answer. The fact that he love Ari, almost more than life itself, did not mean he would be a good husband. "Sir, I believe I would be a good husband for Ari because… Well, I love her and I want to be with her always. She means more to me than life…almost."

"Yes, yes. You say that you love her, but do you **like**her? Don't answer yet!" Sandar held his hand up to stop Thade from speaking, "I can promise you that you will argue, you will fight and you will become angry with each other. Think about that. After you fight will you be able to love and cherish her again? Will you be able to look into her eyes and tell her that you are sorry and wrong, even if you weren't? Marriage is not an easy thing."

"In all sincerity, I had never thought about it in that light before. Senator, your daughter is one of the most precious things in my life. Just to be near her is almost more than I can stand. My heart breaks when she is sad. I will never intentionally hurt her."

"Good. Does Ari return your feelings?"

"Only in the last few days have I become sure that she does."

"Call her."

Thade's heart was beating so hard he was sure that everyone could hear it. Finally when he approached the kitchen door he could hear Ari and the two humans talking merrily. Once he pushed the door open they all looked up, and Taylor gave him a dark look. "Ari, your father would like to speak with you- with us, together." A glimmer a fear sparkled in Ari's eyes. Obviously she had done something wrong and was fearful of being punished. "Don't worry, it's nothing bad."

"All right. What is it that my father wishes to speak to _us _about?"

"You'll find out."

Once they were out of hearing of the humans Ari stopped Thade. "Thade, please, tell me what is going on."

"I'm not sure how to tell you, so I'll just have to show you." Ari watched as Thade brought his head down to hers; she closed her eyes and felt the gentle pressure of  Thade's lips against hers.

When Ari opened her eyes, she saw Thade looking down at her with a questioning gaze. "I think I understand now." A slight blush graced Ari's cheeks. "Let's go have that talk with my father."

I heard the door to the kitchen open; as Thade stepped in both Bon and Taylor fell silent. Out of the corner of my eyes I caught the disapproving glare that Taylor gave Thade. "Ari, your father would like to speak with you- with us, together." Immediately my heart skipped a beat. Was it about the new human? Or had he gotten word that I had sneaked out of Ape City that morning? A million questions raced through my mind. "Don't worry, its nothing bad," said Thade as he gave me a reassuring smile.

"All right," I replied. "What is it that my father wishes to speak to _us _about?" I purposely emphasized the 'us' part.

A twinkle of merriment flickered in Thade's eyes. "You'll find out."

What would be so important that my father needed to talk to both Thade and me? Finally we were out of hearing  from both the humans in the kitchen and my father in his study. I gently put my hand on Thade's arm. "Thade, please, tell me what is going on." I begged.

"I'm not sure how to tell you," he paused and looked deep into my eyes, "So I'll have to show you." As he lowered his head towards mine I finally realized that I was in love with Thade. I closed my eyes and enjoyed the pleasure of my first kiss. When Thade and I broke apart I could see the question that he wanted to ask. "I think I understand now," my voice came out huskier that normal. The heat on my cheeks assured me that I was blushing. "Let's go have that talk with my father."

Thad breathed a sigh of relief. "I'm certainly happy to hear that. For a long time I had hoped you would return my feelings." There was no more time for anything else because we had reached the door of my fathers study.

I entered first and jovially hugged my him and placed a kiss on his cheek. "What is it that you wanted to talk to me about?" Innocence, feigned or not, had always been the way to get my may with my father. There certainly are perks to being the youngest; but I truly do love my father.

"Has Thade not told you?" I saw Papa shoot a disappointed look in Thade's direction.

"Not in so many words, Papa." It was true. Thade had never actually _told _me what my father wanted to talk about. "Please explain this matter fully."

My father raised an eyebrow in Thade's direction. "Sir, I thought it would be best if you explained, so that Ari would not be, uh, influenced by me."

"Very well," my Pap gruffly replied. "Ari, grab a chair and come sit by me. Thade you can sit there where you are." After I had settled down in my chair and was ready to listen did my father begin. "This young ape has asked if he may have your hand in marriage. I will not say yes or no till I have your word that you do or do not love him. What do you have to say?"

There was a pleading look in my father's eyes that spoke more than a million words. I could see that he did not me to leave. For a split second in time I considered saying that I did not love Thade so that I could prevent my Papa's heart from being broke. But I heard myself say that yes I did love Thade. "Don't me sad, Papa, I won't leave you for quiet some year yet… Right?" The sneaky suspicion that I might be forced to marry Thade right away presented itself.

A gentle smiled graced my fathers lips. "No, my daughter, you don't have to leave till you are good and ready." Suddenly I felt the urge to sit on my fathers lap and feel his arms encircle me like when I was a small girl came upon me.

_"Ari, Ari! Papa's home, come on!" Galen stuck his head up the stairway and yelled at his little sister. Sandar had been gone for two weeks to a neighboring city and had left his children under the care of his sister. "Hurry, or Nat and I will get all the presents."_

_"Galen, wait! Help, I'm stuck." Ari had been trying to invent some type of something with string and now she was tangled and unable to move. Unfortunately for her Galen had already dashed down the stairs and had not heard his little sister's plea for help. Alone and unable to free herself Ari feared her family had forgotten her, and that she would be stuck forever. Then she started to cry._

_Downstairs Sandar greeted Galen and Nat, who had come home from boarding school for a visit, and Phyllis, Sandar's sister, was also waiting down with her nephews. "Where is Ari," asked Sandar._

_"She wouldn't come down," tattled Galen._

_A sad expression came into Sandar's eyes. He had lost his wife, now it seemed that he was losing his daughter too. "Oh well, your presents are in on the sofa." Galen and Nat raced into the living room to find their gifts._

_Phyllis and Sandar were left behind. "Sandy, you really should go see her. She was so excited that you were coming home. I cannot imagine why she did not come down._

_"Obviously it was something more important than me."_

_"Are you going to allow bitterness to ruin your relationship with your only daughter, who is also your youngest child? What would Sari say if she were here now? I know you better than you know yourself. Go to her, please."_

_"I'll go." Sandar made his way up to Ari's room. When he reached the door he could hear bitter sobs coming from within. He wondered what could be wrong and all his anger and jealousy vanished instantly. "Ari, are you all right?" As soon as he opened the door Sandar could see that something was not right, his daughter was nowhere to be seen. "Ari?"_

_"Papa!"__ Sandar swung around to find his daughter all tied up laying on the floor close to the door. "You came for me!"_

_"What happened?"_

_"Please don't ask me that, Papa."_

_"All right, here, I'll help untie you." Finally Ari was free of the ropes._

_"Thank you, Papa. I didn't think that anyone was ever gonna remember me. I was scared." She started crying again._

_"Oh, its fine now. Come here," gently he picked Ari up and cuddled her and they often did when either one of them needed comfort. "I love you, sweetheart and I'll never stop loving you."_

_"I never wanna leave you again."_

_"You won't have to." With that they made their way downstairs._

A/N: I know it has been a long time since I have updated and I am truly sorry about the wait. Thank you again to all who reviewed and to those who did not review, but still read the story I hope that you liked it too. More to come soon. No more school after next week for me. That will free up the time that I have to write. So remember to read the review!


	6. Chapter Six: Figuring It All Out

Adventure of the Planet of the Apes

Disclaimer: I own absolutely nothing of the Planet of the Apes. My respect for the wonderful author, Pierre Boulle, the book was so awesome that I keep reading it over and over again. So only a few people in here are mine. I don't own any Tolkien quotes either.

A/N: I am so happy with all the response I have been getting. Sorry that the last chapter took so long to update, but with finals and all… Well, this time I have no idea what is going to happen so we will have to just wait and find out.

Goopy Goo- I am glad that you like my story and I realize that I need a beta or such. With other people's work I can find tons of mistakes and stuff like that, but my own… that is a different story. Sorry about that. Thank you for giving me a positive, but also a very helpful review.

JoMarch95- Yeah you liked it. Me and my dad are pretty close too, but at least I still have a mom around the house otherwise we would kill each other sometimes.

Enya- Nope, I haven't abandoned it yet. Right now I am really busy with acting class. Fun fun fun- or not. But I am trying to be regular in my updates. Just hang in and we will get this story finished… someday.

Chapter Six: Figuring It All Out

Bon chatted away merrily glad to finally have someone to talk with besides her brother. I mean, she loves him very much, but there are some things that guys can just not understand about girls. Because basically most men are emotionally void, and sometimes you just have to pour out your heart to a girl, but Bon had never had a girl to talk to before. I smiled as she talked about how good it was to live with "Mistress Ari" because she was so nice. _Yeah, if she were nice she wouldn't have slaves._ But I am, of course, a little prejudice. We were laughing at something that I had said, a normal American thing, but then again this was not America we were living in, and it had struck Bon as the funniest thing she had ever heard. All of the sudden the door swung open and Ari walked in. Immediately Bon stopped talking and laughing and stood up. Quickly I followed her actions, and tried to have a subservient attitude.

"Is there anything you would like, mistress Ari?" A look of annoyance quickly passed over the she-apes face before she could wipe it away. When Ari looked in my direction I gave an almost imperceptible nod to acknowledge her.

"No, I do not require anything… except." Both Bon and I paused wondering what request would be made of us. I was going to truly try to be good and do everything with a positive manner. "-except for you to stop addressing me as 'mistress Ari' when no one else is around."

"Yes, mis- I mean, Ari." I had been staying pretty quiet just waiting and watching. It was interesting to see how Bon interacted with Ari in certain situations. _Stop it, __Taylor__, you aren't doing common interest story. You don't have to take notes on everything. Relax._

"It seems like you two are getting along well. Was the food to your liking, Taylor?"

I was fighting the urge to say  something around the lines of _'Oh, well, the selection isn't quiet up to par, and the china isn't the best I have ever seen.' _But I knew that I would have been in **big **trouble had I said that. So I settled with a nice, short little answer. "Yes, thank you. _La comida esta excellente, gracias."_ I couldn't help myself. It is just my natural tendency to want to confuse people, so I had to speak Spanish.

"Uh?" Both Bon and Ari were confused by hearing an unknown language spoken. "Is that the same language that you and your friend made up?"

"_Sí._" A smirk worked its way onto my face, without my permission to do so. In a way I was kind of teasing both of them, especially Ari. The smart part of me said that I should remain silent, but the stupid part said go ahead and do whatever. The apes needed to see that they weren't the only ones who were able to learn and do different things.

Bon's eyes got big, "You can speak a different language?" Now I was certain that she held me in awe, neither Bon nor Ari had never met someone like me. For a moment Ari looked like she felt as naïve as Bon looked.

"_Sí, hablan_ _español. ¿Tú?_" I gave Bon a smile that hopefully put her at ease. No offense to her, but it wasn't hard to impress her. If you have barely ever been out of the house, can't read, and have never had a person to interact except your brother, you can't be anything but naïve. But to Ari I gave a kind of condescending smile that I would give to child who could not understand, but pretends to. Immediately after words I felt sorry. It was not my intent to make her mad or feel bad, yet I could not stop myself, so I apologized. "Sorry, I know that I am provoking you. Really, I don't mean to do it, but it comes so naturally when I can understand and you can't.

"In one way I can understand what you mean. Come, sit. You don't have to stand." After a moments hesitation I pulled up and chair and sat down, but Bon was a little bit shyer. It took her a couple seconds to finally make her upper mind when I positioned a chair next to me and motioned for her to sit down.

"For crying out loud in St. Petersburg, sit down." Again I motioned for her to sit.

"You are very different."

"Thank you." It sounded good to hear that again. For the most part people told me that everyday and I hadn't heard it yet before I had suddenly 'dropped' in on Ari, literally.

"Why would you say that? I didn't compliment you, you know."

"Yes, but it has been at least two days since anyone has told me that, so it was good to hear it again."

Now she has not realize that I am not 'usual.' "So, Taylor, tell me a bit about yourself."

"I'm younger than you think I am. I have two older sisters, two brother-in-laws, two nephews, two nieces, a mom and dad, grandparents and lots of friends. Just like quote un quote normal person would have. What about you?"

The question obviously took Ari by surprise. Then it dawned on me that a human of this world would never presume to ask an ape a personal question. I cringed and hoped that I had not infringed upon a taboo. Ari didn't seem to mind, actually she seemed quiet pleased. "Um, well, I have two older brothers and one is now married. Huh, I live here with my father and my hum-, well, now you. My best friend is Thade and uh… not much else. Do you have a best friend?"

"I use to, but that was a couple years ago. Things just happened that were meant to happen. It ended out good in the end, though I'm still not very fond of her. How could I expect to be when she broke my trust in her and took part of me away?" Painful memories pushed themselves forward. Moister filled my eyes, but I quickly blinked it away. This was not a time to be showing weakness, but I had truly loved Christine.

"You truly loved her didn't you?" Emotion was thick in Ari's voice. Somehow I think it was then that she connected with me. It was a realization that I wasn't just some stupid human without a brain. I don't know what it was… but there was something. "But the sacred scrolls say that humans are incapable of love, or even the simplest emotion." Obviously training over rules common sense.

"If you don't mind me saying –I'm not trying to insult you or anyone else- but I don't think those sacred scrolls know a damn thing about humans. Believe me, I don't swear very often, only when I need to make a point."

"You're not from around here."

"Didn't we already go over this? Hitler –I mean- Thade, already put me through the inquisition and back again. No, I'm not from around here. Stupid soup Nazi's." Really, Thade is very much like a Hitler, he wants to kill everyone who is not an ape. I cannot help but wonder if he will reach the six million death mark like Hitler did with the Jews. This makes me nervous to think about, since I am now one of those who could suffer from his persecution.

"Soup Nazi's?"

"Never mind. I'm obsessed with history. Particularly the American Civil War and World War II, but none of that matters or exist now," I ended sadly. All that schooling was good for nothing but a future of misery working for _'damn dirty apes.'_

"How would a human know all that? You must come from a long distance from here since no one has ever spoken of such things before. This is all very interesting. I would like to know more."

"If you think you could learn from a lowly human." I sarcastically replied when she almost started laughing at the thought of learning from a human. There were some things I could just not handle.

The shocked looked on Ari's face gave me a feeling of pride. It seemed that Ari wasn't to pleased with my answer. "Well, I have things to do so I will leave you two to clean up. Once you are done, Taylor, you may return to my chambers or stay here with Bon for a while before bed."

"Thank you, ma'am."

The ape ignored my last comment as discussed with Bon about what was to be for dinner. Then the door opened again, this time was Thade. I gave him my best 'back off buddy' look I could without being to blatant. "Ari, your father would like to speak with you- with us, together." A slight jerk was all the emotion that Ari showed. _Probably did something she wasn't suppose to. Didn't she say something about finding me outside the city? Is she even allowed to go outside? _"Don't worry, it's nothing bad." I was left to muse over my thoughts as Thade lead Ari away.

Well, Ari had told me I could either go back up to her room or stay with Bon. At the moment Bon was busy fixing the dinner Ari had requested, so I assumed that I would get no more information out of her at the present time so I decided to take my chances upstairs. Slowly I made my way back up to Ari's room. It took me a little while because I had become dizzy from the bump on my head. Finally I reached her room. I carefully staggered, it is actually possible to stagger carefully? Oh well, but I made my way over to my makeshift bed and sat down. How could walking up a flight of stairs make a person so tired? I knew the answer was because I had a concussion and they make people tired. The doctor had told Ari to let me sleep for the next couple days so I decided to take his advice and catch some _z_'s.

When I woke up again the room was getting dark and a few candles where lit. Naturally I was curious to know about what was going on downstairs since I could hear voices merrily talking amongst themselves, but it was too much of an effort to walk all the way downstairs. But there were plenty of things to occupy my mind in Ari's room. I noticed that my backpack was laying on the floor at the foot of my bed, yet I could not understand how it had gotten there. That morning when I had gone to the playground with Hannah and Sarah I hadn't taken my backpack with me. Why was it here?

Quickly I opened the main compartment and I found a couple different changes of clothes, nothing major. I dug deeper because I could feel something lumpy at the bottom and I wondered what it was. Teddy! My mom's parents had given him to me for my first Christmas and ever since then I had never spent a night without my faithful Teddy. Everything was going to be all right now, not just because I had my Teddy, but something else, something deeper told me this. I continued my search through my bag and found: a cd player, Cd's, a book, my mouth guard, toothbrush, hairbrush, and a few other toiletry items I might need. Weird.

I walked around the room and took in all the details I could manage for one night then I brushed my teeth. It is a difficult thing to brush one's teeth when you don't have water and have to swallow the toothpaste. Ick! But I did manage to do just that and it made me feel a lot better. I decided that I had better not make a habit of using too much toothpaste because, I reasoned, that the apes wouldn't be to keen on giving (if they had any) to a human. Then I started to change into my favorite pair of pajama's, but thought better of it. How many humans slept in different clothes or had a change of clothes? So I packed all my stuff away (even dear 'ol Teddy) and curled up to sleep. But then…

A/N: Hahahahahaha! I have left you with a cliff hanger once again. Thank you to everyone who reviewed my story and to those who are silent readers. I hope that you will continue to enjoy my story.


	7. Chapter Seven: Trival Arrives

Adventure of the Planet of the Apes

Disclaimer: I own nothing. Right now I can't even afford to buy myself a $14 CD so don't even try to sue me 'cause I ain't go nothin'.

A/N: Wow an update in just a few days, that is a record for me. Um, not much has changed since I lasted updated… so here it is.

**Goopy Goo**- I love your reviews. Sorry, but you are my favorite reviewer because are my only critic and you tell me what needs to be improved. Thanks. About the concussion. Personally I have a lot of experience with concussions such as: when I broke my nose, when I fell of a tractor, when I fell off a bunk bed (I was 4) and other numerous times that I have hit my head. But the last time (nose) I can pretty much remember how I felt during that time. It is possible to have a delayed reaction to a concussion and to be fine until you slow down enough to notice that you are in some serious pain. But thank you for mentioning that. The two little dots? Um… well, you can go to _insert _and say: "Insert Symbol" and that works, but my computer does it automatically for me.

**We interrupt this program to bring you a special announcement: _The Planet of the Apes _was written by Pierre Boulle in 1966 and the first movie was made in 1967. **

Sorry, got a little carried away there, but the book was written before the movies were made and it is very good. My poor book is missing the cover and the first five chapters because my mom picked it up and it fell apart… But this is a long answer. Taylor is bi-lingual and it doesn't make her brain think to speak Spanish.

**Enya**- Acting class did not go okay and I have officially quite. Usually I would try to stick it through, but no. My character was a duckling and all I did was say, "Quack, quack." Come on! Yes… cliff hangers are always very fun to write.

Chapter Seven: Trival Arrives

"Taylor!"

"Just five more minutes, mom." I rolled over and tried to ignore who ever was shaking me.

"It is me, Bon. My brother has come home with some of the other humans that mistress Ari has helped. They all want to meet you." Finally I remember where I was. I had to pry my eyes open and stood up shakily with the help of Bon. For a second or two the room began to spin and I wasn't sure if I was going to be able to make it all the way down stairs. "Will you be able to walk?"

"Yes, thank you." I wondered why we were whispering. Then I realized that the apes where probably eating dinner right now. "Okay, let's go." Carefully we made our way down into the kitchen with the help and support of the wall. When we finally arrived in the kitchen there were about six different women, men and a baby sitting around on the ground. _No wonder I have to sleep in Ari's room._ I thought to myself.

"Here, come sit here in front." Someone helped me find a comfortable seat on the floor where I could face everyone. "I'm Trival," the one who had helped me to my seat introduced himself.

"My name is Lanai," a man said.

"Marsail."

"Wedil."

"Jusinia."

"Hanian, and this little one is Teli." There were so many names swirling around me I was sure that I would never be able to keep everyone straight.

"Uh, hi." _Oh, that was brilliant beyond belief, __Taylor__. _"I guess you probably all know by now that my name is Taylor. It is nice to meet you all, but I'm not sure I'll be able to remember all your names right away."

"That is fine," someone, I think it was Wedil, said.

"Bon tells us that you know stories that we have never heard before. She also says you come from a long way away from here." I could recognize Trival just from his resemblance to Bon. How long had I been asleep?

I was a little a nervous about speaking to everyone. Why had Bon had to tell them all about me and my 'amazing' story telling ability I'll never know. "Well, I know a few different stories. Nothing absolutely astounding."

"What is 'a-sound-ing'?"

Now it was my turn to be flabbergasted. Did they know absolutely nothing at all? Sure, I had not missed a single vocabulary word on my SAT's, but that doesn't mean I am a super genius person. Okay, maybe here on the Planet of the Apes it does. I'll have to try and use simpler words. "Well, its meaning is something like: 'above average, spectacular, amazing, astonishing' and stuff like that. Understand?"

"Say it again."

"A-stound-ing"

"A-stound-ing," the human's repeated after me. "Good, any other questions?"

"How did you learn so much?"

"Your name first."

"I am Marsail."

"Well, Marsail, I learned so much from my mother and father who taught me to always try to learn as much as you can. School and reading lots of books also help a lot with having an expanded vocabulary." A collective gasp went through the room at the mention of being able to read. "Where I come from humans are allowed to read and go to school. Freedom is basically the motto of my country."

Murmurs of: "You're crazy." and "She must have hit her head too hard," Could be heard around the room.

"Okay, let's say that I am crazy. I must have a pretty good imagination to think up such a thing."

"Taylor," Bon, always the peacemaker stepped in, "you have had a long day, don't over due it. Maybe you could tell us one of those stories?"

"Yes a story!" "Tell us a story." "One we have never heard before."

I smiled as a glint shone in my eyes. Right now I had the perfect story in mind, and it did not deal with apes at all. "Are you sure, this is a long story and it may take quiet a while before we get all the way through it."

"Go ahead," they urged me.

_"In a hole there lived a hobbit. Not a nasty, dirty wet hole filled with ends of worms and an oozy smell, nor a dry bare, sandy hole with nothing in it to sit down on or eat. It was a hobbit-hole, and that means comfort._

_It had a perfectly round door like a porthole, painted green with a shiny yellow brass knob in the exact middle. The door opened to a tube shaped hall like a tunnel: a comfortable tunnel without smoke, with paneled walls, and floors tiled and carpeted…"_

At first I was going on what I had memorized of the _Hobbit_, but soon after I had run out of memory I wasmaking up parts of the story. It brought joy to my heart to see everyone in rapt attention, hanging on every word I said. Before I knew it a clock somewhere chimed that it was eleven o'clock, and a sudden sleepiness came over me. A giant yawn interrupted me as I was about to tell of Gandalf showing up and Bofur, Bombur and Bifur fell on Thorin Oakenshield.

"Oh, my!" I turned around to see what everyone was staring at, it was Ari. She had a very curious look on her face as she directed everyone into their 'sleeping cage' and told me to go up to her room.

When Ari came into the room I was sitting unobtrusively in the corner, trying to be good. At first she didn't seem to not notice me, but went around and did (what I assumed) what was her normal nightly routine. "Where did you hear that story?"

It took me a few seconds to realize that I was being spoken to. "Well, I heard it," I didn't want to lie, but I also wanted to live, "the first time when I was about ten years old. My mother told it to me when I was recovering from an illness. After I heard it the first time it became one of my most favorite stories!" It was impossible for me to contain my excitement when I was talking about Tolkien.

"You are ill often?"

"No." A small lie never hurt anyone, right? Because of all my allergies I seem to be able to pick up a cold in the snap of a finger.

"Does this story have apes in it?"

Oh my gosh! Will these people ever get over themselves? "No, it doesn't. The only characters are Hobbits, Elves, Wizards, Dwarves, Elves and Men."

"Why no apes?"

"I guess the author didn't want to put any in. Truly, I can't say why." This answer seemed to satisfy her.

"You are very different, Taylor. Most humans wouldn't be able to carry on a conversation with an ape or dare to tell a tale where humans are not ruled by apes."

"I guess those rules just don't apply to me." I looked down at my hands. All my life I had been breaking rules and setting up my own guidelines, within the law, but now things were different. As a human I could be killed at any time with or without reason. "May I ask you something?"

Ari's eyebrows shot up. "Yes," she hesitantly said.

"Could you- I mean- would you help me to learn to be a little more subservient? I have an attitude problem and it needs a big adjustment. Trying to fix it by myself is am impossible task. I hate asking for help, but please… help me."

"You don't talk like a human."

"What?"

"No human would ever say 'subservient'. I will help you."

"Why?"

"Because you're unusual."

"Thanks." I left it at that and lay down to go to sleep. Finally after about five minutes Ari climbed on to her bed and started writing in her diary. My body succumbed to sleep as I listened to the constant scratching of her pen on paper.

A/N: Okay, this is a really short chapter, but I promise that the next chapter will be extra long. Are you guys proud of me? I updated within three days of the last time. Wow! Actually, I would have had this up earlier, but my dad took me out and taught me how to drive a stick-shirt. Eek! That was an interesting experience.


	8. Chapter Eight: Dinner

Adventure of the Planet of the Apes

Disclaimer: I still don't own anything and I still have no money. I am dirt poor! Actually, I don't own any dirt either… Hum. Barlow Girl: I love all your songs so I had to put them in this story 'cause _Never Alone _is such an awesome song!

A/N: I just realized what a repetitive title I have for this story: _Adventure **of the **Planet **of the **Apes. _That is a lot of _'of the'_s.

**Jo March95- **Yippee for driving! So much fun.

**Goopy Goo- **Don't you dare stop reviewing my story. If you do I will go hunt you down and force you to review. Lol. Me are a gud righter. Cuase I is getting a lot betr wit spelling. You are no flamer! Your opinion matters to me and I take your advice on a lot of things. Thank you so much for saying that my writing style is improving. Now that I am seven chapters into this story I have finally started to really connect with the characters and they are almost writing themselves now. And those things (") are called apostrophe's. Yeah! The nose is much better, thank you. My toe is the only thing that gives me any pain now. Summer definitely helps with getting things written up and posted faster. In two weeks I will be leaving to visit my new baby cousin so I will try to write an extra chapter so that your need is fulfilled. I love your reviews.

**Pippin- **Hehehehe! I don't see you for a week, have fun! Did you have a good time on your vacation? Thanks for the review, but I will password protect all my stories if you even try to read them ahead of time. Lol. Bye, love you lots. (not in that way… pervs.)

Chapter Eight: Dinner

Thade, my father and I all went into our large dinning room and sat down as Bon served us. Her brother, Trival, was out with some of the other humans, trying to find apes who would want them as servants since my father would not allow me to keep them all. When I had found out that Thade was going to be over for dinner, which wasn't that uncommon, I had asked Bon to prepare his favorite dishes. Since none of us are extremely religious we didn't bother to pray to Semos, even though Thade is a direct descendant.

Dinner was a quiet affair, neither Thade, my father or myself knew exactly how we should act around each other now since Thade and I were officially engaged. Engaged! The thought of marrying my best friend in the whole world made my heart leap within me. I looked over across the table at Thade, he was practically glowing with happiness; a blush crept up my cheeks. Papa didn't seem to notice, or if he did, he didn't let on. For the first time since my mother died I actually felt happy and complete.

During the middle of dinner Trival came in and announced that they were home before curfew. He helped Bon serve the rest of the time during dinner. Finally after what seemed like forever my father excused himself, saying that he needed to catch up on some Senatorial work and left Thade and I by ourselves. "How is your army training going, Thade?" Even though I personally hated the ape army I knew how much it meant to Thade, and I would support him.

"It is going well. We hardly ever have to rage war against the humans anymore. Maybe you are right, they seem to be learning that we are their masters."

"Thank you."

"For what?"

"Trying to understand my point of view. I know how you and your father think of humans."

"It is hard to forget all that I was taught when I was young, but for you I would do anything."

"Anything? Even if it meant giving up the position of general?"

"Even that. I never want to cause you pain."

"Shall we go into the living room? It is more comfortable than here." I didn't want to mention that it was also farther away from my father's study. Not that I mind my father knowing all this, but there are some things you just want to keep to yourself.

"If you'd like." Thade hooked his arm around my waist and we walked into the living room. I liked the feeling of being close to him. He made me feel safe and protected. Not the way that my father makes me feel safe and protected, a different kind of feeling.

"I love you." Those words never sounded so sweet as when Thade said them to me right then, for the first time.

"I love you too, Thade." Butterflies once again flitted around in my stomach as I heard myself confess my love for him. I knew that I would be happy to say those words again and again. Gently he cupped my face in his hands and placed a slow and deliberate kiss on my lips. As I returned the kiss it grew into the sweetest thing I had ever experienced.

"I'll never stop loving you, Ari. Never. I promise." My heart was lost to him, as it had been since the first time I met him.

Flashback

_"Ari, your father and I are going over to meet General Zanam. Would you like to come with us?" Little Ari looked up from the doll house she was playing with. _

_"Does he have someone I can play with?"_

_"You would have to ask your father that."_

_"Okay, momma, I'll go ask Papa." Ari quickly abandoned her toys and ran to find her dearly beloved father. "Papa, Papa!"_

_Sandar grabbed his daughter and swung her up over his head, then brought her safely back to rest in his arms. "What is it that my little daughter wants?"_

_"Momma said we is gonna"-_

_"Are going to"- interrupted Sandar._

_"-Are going to go see some general person and I wanna know if there will be anyone for me to play with. 'Cause I can stay here and play with Nova." Nova, was Ari's favorite doll, a human doll. _

_"Actually, General Zanam does have a little ape boy about your age, maybe a little older. Galen met him the other day and liked him very much."_

_"Then I don't wanna go."_

_"Why not?"___

_"If Galen liked him then he'll tease me and be like Galen."_

_"I doubt very much if he will treat you like a little sister."_

_"Why?"_

_"You'll find out when you're older."_

_"When is older?"_

_Just then Sari came down the stairs, with Ari's coat in hand. "Are you coming with us?"_

_"Yes, Momma.__ Can I bring Nova?"_

_"May I bring Nova. And no you may not bring her."_

_"Why?"_

_"Because little apes should not ask so many questions!"__ Sandar started tickling his daughter._

_"Sandy, please, she is wrinkled enough as it is. We must be going or we will be late."_

_"And you must never keep a host waiting. Always remember that, Ari," her father advised her. Sandar, Sari and Ari all walked along the busy streets of ape city and reached the back gate. The soldiers and the post all knew Sandar and his family and let them pass without a care. This was the first time Ari had ever been out of the city before and the world seemed very big to her. _

_Sari sighed, "It is nice to be out of the city for a while. I can see why General Zanam chose to build out here."_

_"Seems a little to wild for my taste."_

_"That is because you were born in the city."_

_"Weren't you born in the city to, Momma?" Asked Ari._

_"No, darling, I was born out in the jungle to a poor ape family who could not afford to live in the city. But when I started going to school in the city I met your father and we fell in love."_

_Ari just rolled her eyes. Why did grown ups always have to talk about falling in love? She was never going to fall in love because all the boys she knew were yucky and annoying. "I'm never gonna fall in love 'cause I'm gonna marry Papa."_

_"Look! That is General Zanam's house."_

_"That's a house?" It was the biggest house Ari had ever seen. Really, it was more like a mansion than a house. "It's so **big.**" Sandar smiled at his daughter as the family approached the large house._

_As they walked up to the door they were greeted my a servant ape that lead them into a comfortable sitting room. "Welcome, Senator." Ari turned around to see a powerfully built chimpanzee enter the room. He wasn't wear clothes like normal apes did, but rather, he was wearing armor. "It is an honor to have you at my house."_

_"Thank you, General Zanam, for inviting us to come. It is an honor to be able to dine with such a famous general." Zanam nodded his appreciation. "This is my wife, Sari, and our youngest, Ari."_

_"You have a lovely wife, Senator," General Zanam bowed and gracefully kissed Sari's hand. "Your daughter seems equally as lovely."_

_"Thank you, sir. I treasure them both."_

_"Father, you didn't tell me we were having company," said a young ape, a few years older than Ari, appeared from behind Zanam._

_"And this is my son Thade. Thade, this is Senator Sandar, his wife Sari and their daughter Ari."_

_"Nice you meet you, Senator," Thade said as he shook Sandar's hand. "You are the image of beauty, my lady," he said with a flourish as he bowed and bestowed a kiss on Sari's hand. "But, your daughter rival's your beauty." Thade tried to kiss Ari's hand, but she pulled back and tried to hide in her father's senatorial robes._

_"Ari, that is no way to treat your host."_

_"Papa, I don't want some icky boy kissing my hand!" She exclaimed indignantly._

_General Zanam chuckled graciously, "Come, let us sit out on the patio. Thade, you may take Ari and show her the playroom if she would like."_

_Little Ari looked up at her parents for permission. "Go," Sandar gave his daughter a little shove, "we won't be very far away."_

_"Come on, I wanna show you my stuff." With that Thade grabbed Ari's hand and lead her off to his playroom. _

_"Wow!" remarked Ari when she stepped inside Thade's room. "You sure have a lot of toys. Do you have to share?"_

_"With who?"___

_"You don't have any brothers or sisters?"_

_"Nope, I'm an only child. I don't have to ask you because I already know that you have two older brothers. What is it like having people around to play with all the time?"_

_"Horrible! You never get to do anything by yourself and you momma and papa always make you share things. I wish I were an only child too."_

_"No you don't. It gets boring because sometimes there is nothing to do and no one to play with."_

_"I still think I'd rather play by myself, or with Nova."_

_"Nova?"___

_"My doll."___

_"Is she a chimpanzee doll or what?"_

_"She is human."_

_"Human?"_

_"Yes. She is my best friend."  
  
_

_"You're strange, Ari, but I like you. One day I'll marry you."_

_"I like you too, Thade, but I'm never gonna get married 'cause I love my papa too much."_

_"Just you wait and see. But let's just be best friends right now. Okay?"_

_"Okay."_

End Flashback

"You were right."

"About what?"

I smiled at Thade, "about me marrying you."

"I know. I'm always right," then he flashed me that crooked smile of his.

"Are you really?" I couldn't let that remark go. "I seem to remember quiet a few times when you have been wrong."

"Me? Wrong? As a descendent of Semos, I am never wrong."

"Really?"

"Really."

I quickly reached behind me and grabbed the nearest pillow and hit Thade over the head. "That is what you get."

"Oh, you did not just do that."

"Oh… but I did." I snatched another pillow up in my other hand and soon a full fledged pillow fight broke out. After about five minutes of laughing and hitting each other will pillows Thade and I were out of breath. We were laying on the floor side by side when Thade leaned over me.

"Ari, you're the most beautiful thing I have ever seen."

"You have to say that."

"I know, but it's true. You mean more to me… than almost anything."

"Anything meaning that the army will always come before me."

"Don't speak that way."

"But it's true." I sat up. Why did he have to go and ruin a perfect moment.

"Thade sat up and sighed. "What would have me do? I know that you don't want me to quite, because you're not a quitter either. Tell me what you want me to do and I will try to do it."

"When your father- because we know he will- gives you the title of general, don't take it. Please, Thade, I cannot stand to see anymore humans slaughtered. They are learning to behave, you said so yourself."

"But there will always be those who will not behave and need to be taught a lesson."

"Like who?"

"Like, that girl you brought home this afternoon. She doesn't respect apes. It is obvious in the way she acts. I don't know why, but she hates me."

"She doesn't hate you."

"It is too wonderful of a night to spoil it by having this conversation. I'll not try to convert you if you will not try to convert me."

"All right."

"I love you."

I closed my eyes and let those three simple words flow over me. "I could listen to you say those words forever and never grow tired of hearing them."

"Then I will keep saying them to you for as long as I live. I love you." Thade wrapped his arms around my shoulder, I held onto him, as you would try to hold on to someone if you were drowning. The feeling of his arms around me made me feel safe and protected, but not smothered. I raised my face to his and smiled up into his clear piercing blue eyes, which are very uncommon in apes, and admired his handsome features. Finally my eyes came to rest on his lips, and I could feel his chest going up and down a little more rapidly. Our lips meet and his sent almost overwhelmed me, but it was a beautiful moment. The clock chimed that it was eleven o'clock, thirty minutes past when I was suppose to put the humans to bed.

"Oh dear, I didn't realize it was so late. You had better be getting home or your father will be worried about you."

"And you had better be getting to bed to catch up on your beauty sleep."

I walked him to the door, just to be able to spend a few more seconds in his company. "Good night, Thade."

"Good night, Ari." The way he said my name made chills run up and down my spine. With that he walked off into the night, the soft glow of the moon illuminating him till I could no long see his silhouette. I made my way into the kitchen where I could hear a voice still talking. When I walked in I found Taylor sitting on the floor in front of all the other humans, telling them a story. It was a story I had never heard before, detailed with strange names and places. All the humans were hanging on every word she said. They didn't even notice I was there till Bon caught sight of me and gasped. Taylor swiveled around to face me. "All right, she can continue the story tomorrow night." With that all the humans stood up and went to their sleep cage except Taylor, she looked lost. "You may good upstairs." She unsteadily stood and made her way up to my room while I locked everyone else up for the night.

She was sitting on her pallet when I walked into the room. "Where did you hear that story?"

It took her a few seconds before she answered. "I heard it the first time when I about ten years old. My mother told it to my when I was recovering from an illness. After I heard it the first time it quickly became one of my favorites!" It looked and sounded like she could barely contain her enthusiasm.

Was she ill often? Why had she been sick? "Are you ill often?"

Taylor gave me a strange look before answering. "No." There was definitely something she wasn't telling me.

"Does this story have apes in it?" How could a human think up a story that didn't contain apes as masters? They possess no creative abilities what-so-ever. She made a slight sign of annoyance by rolling her eyes, but I decided to ignore it.

"No, it doesn't. The only characters are Hobbits, Elves, Wizards, Dwarves and _men_." I could tell by the way she emphasized the word 'men' that she was trying to get a point across.

"Why no apes?" Such insolence! I would let her get away with a few small things, but when she blatantly scorns her masters, that is a different matter all together.

"I guess the author didn't want to put any in. Truly, I can't say why." Author? Someone had written this story down? The author didn't want to put apes in the story. Hum… now that was interesting. Did this mean that a human had written a story? But, that is impossible, because humans can't read never the less write!

This girl was very different, strange and a tad bit weird, but I liked her. "You are very different, Taylor. Most humans wouldn't be able to carry on a conversation with an ape or dare tell a tale where humans are not ruled by apes."

"I guess those rules just don't apply to me." She looked down at her hands and seemed to be lost in recollection for a few seconds. I started to go back to what I was doing when she asked me a question. "May I ask you something?"

I was very surprised and couldn't react in time to keep the expression of surprise off my face. "Yes," I agreed, somewhat hesitantly. Then I realized that the human had said 'May…' instead of 'Can…' like most humans would. It was probably just an accident though, nothing to worry about.

"Could you- I mean- would you help me to learn to be a little more subservient? I have an attitude problem and it needs a big adjustment. Trying to fix it by myself is am impossible task. I hate asking for help, but please… help me." Taylor seemed to let her guard down for just a split second and I was able to see through her tough exterior. Inside she was broken and helpless, lost in a friendless world. I realized for the first time why I had always wanted to help humans, even though most of my race scorn them. They are fragile creatures who cannot live in the world by themselves, and we apes take advantage of that.

"You don't talk like a human." I hadn't meant to say that, and I didn't really know why I had.

"What?"

"No human would ever say 'subservient'." I realized that I had wanted to let her know that I could see that she was not normal and that I wouldn't treat her just like I would any human. "I will help you."

"Why?"

"Because you're unusual."

"Thanks." With that she laid down and went to sleep. I quick changed into my sleeping clothes and climbed up on to my bed with my journal, ready to start writing where I had left off from when Thade had interrupted me that afternoon. At the though of Thade my heart skipped a couple beats.

_It was, as it usually is, much brighter outside of the city than it is on here. The air seems much more breathable and not quiet so closed the wide openness made my heart soar! I made my way into the forested area without looking over my shoulder. Trees swayed over head and a gentle breeze blew my hair into my face and swirled the leaves along the forest floor. Soon a giant tree loomed in front of me, its branches spread out giving it the appearance of an umbrella, this is my tree and I love to go there and just sit in its arms forever. The first time I ever went there was when my mother was taken from us about seven years ago…_

I continued to write after I reread what I had written that afternoon-

_Well, as I was saying before memories and Thade interrupted, I had gone to the tree when my mother had died and my father and brothers were too caught up in their grief to take much notice of me. One day after I had come home from school with Galen and Nat my father was sitting in his study and I went in to see him…_

Flash Back

"Papa, Papa!" Little Ari raced in to her father's study as soon as she got home from school. It had only been a week since her mother had passed away.

"Hello, Ari." Sandar looked up from his work and smiled at his daughter. "How was school?"

"Oh, it was boring. Can we go visit Thade today?" She jumped up on her father's desk to better see what he was doing.

"No, I'm sorry, but I'm very busy right now. Maybe we can go sometime later this week. Why don't you go see what your brother's are doing, I need to get these papers done by tomorrow." With that Sandar gently set his daughter on the floor and started his work again.

Ari sighed as she left her father's office. Nat and Galen were always too busy with their friends, homework or projects to take notice of her, but it was always worth a try. As she made her way upstairs a thought struck her head. Why did she just go to Thade's by herself? She had been there many times and she was sure that she would be able to find her way. First she would see what her brother's were doing, just to make sure that they were busy. "What 'cha doin'?" She popped her head into Nat's room.

"Oh, hello, Ari. Sorry, I can't play right now, I have to get my gear fixed up for tomorrows big game. There are going to be some scouts there, and if I do really well they might offer me a scholarship to play with a professional team! Maybe Galen will play with you."

"Yeah, maybe he will. Good luck, Nat. I hope you win." Despondently Ari went to find her other brother, with very little hope that he would play with her, but that was fine with her since she wanted to go see Thade.

"Galen?" She poked her head around the corner.

Galen spun around with a scared look on his face. "Good, it's just you. I thought maybe it was papa or Nat." To Ari it looked like Galen had been crying.

"Are you all right?"

"Why would you ask that?"

"It looks like you have been crying," Ari pointed out mater of factly.

Her brother made a face. "And what's it to you if I have been? Get out. Go find someone else to bother."

"I just want to help"-

"But you aren't helping. Go away."

Ari felt hurt at the way her brother was treating her. Even though she didn't really want to play with him, it still hurt her to think that she wasn't needed. Oh well, she would go see Thade and he would never not want to play with her. After grabbing a coat she headed out the back door and silently slunk away from her home for the first time without an adult. The sky was becoming heavy with rain clouds, but Ari didn't take any notice. As she raced through the streets she found that she had gone the wrong way, and towards the senatorial building instead of the back gate. She decided that she might as well have a look around, and maybe explore a little bit, which was just as good as going to play with Thade. Ari tried to stay in the shadows so that none of the other senators or temple workers would notice that she was there and take her back home. With her back to the wall she felt her way along and all of the sudden! Her foot tripped over something and she fell backwards into nothingness. It was very dark where she had fallen. One hand of the wall she tried to feel where she had fallen, common sense told her to go back, but her curious nature drove her onward towards the unknown. Finally she came to some type of wooden barrier, which was a door. She groped about in the dark till she found the handle and the door swung outward out of the city. Freedom! Ari's heartbeat quickened as she took one last look over her shoulder and bolted out of the door into the open area. The air was clearer and she found it easier to breathe now that the door was closed behind her and the forest loomed in front of her.

All her life she had been told stories of the humans that were wild and lived in the forest, and for some strange reason Ari had always longed to meet one of these creatures even though she was suppose to be their enemy. Now that she was alone without family to protect her Ari was beginning to feel small and helpless, but very determined. With purpose in her stride she set off towards the forest with every intention of not going in very far, but far enough to be able to see if the rumors about wild humans were true. As she flitted in and out of the trees she lost all track of time and was soon quiet a ways into the forest, then all of the sudden a giant tree loomed in front of her.

TBC…

A/N: I decided to give you all a nice long chapter since I probably won't update for another week or two since I will be gone. But I have inspiring music- all about the Planet of the Apes- that I have found. Lol. It is pretty funny if you ask me… but I hope everyone likes this chapter and remembers to review. Okay, thanks a lot! Okay… I am a lazy bum and I thought I would have this done before we started off for vacation, but I don't. So here is a long chapter with a cliffie, that was not done on purpose this time.


	9. Chapter Nine: Of Memories and the Future

Adventure of the Planet of the Apes

Disclaimer: I still don't own anything and I still have no money. I am dirt poor! Actually, I don't own any dirt either… Hum. Barlow Girl: I love all your songs so I had to put them in this story 'cause _Never Alone _is such an awesome song!

A/N: Sorry I haven't updated for a very long time. Wow. I just started back to school, well actually college now. Everyone needs to read _Stranger _it is a story that I helped to co-author. We have almost finished it and then will be starting on another book after that. Thank you all for your wonderful support.

**Enya-** I love driving and thank you for all those nice reviews. Only three more months till I can drive all by myself, Yeah!

**Destiny's Dragon- **Keep writing, now there is the hard part.

**Goopy Goo- **Patience is a virtue…. That you and I both do not have. I have a wonderful idea for another Planet of the Apes story that I really want to start on, but I know that if I start then I will never finish this one. Keep pounding my head into the sand and tell me to update and I will. Thank you so much for preserving through all my numerous injuries and what-not. Yippee! Now I know the different between quit, quiet, quite because I problems. Exciting news! Next year I get to take all my classes at the local junior college and get credit for high school and college at the same time. I went to Western Baptist College in Salem, Oregon and it was a blast!

**Jo March95- **Yes, I know it is the greatest story ever. Lol. I'm not that conceited.

**Goopy Goo- **You get the prize for reviewing the most. Here, I grant you permission to breathe my air. J

**Altril- **You have stolen Goopy's place as my most favored reviewer because we are soooo alike. Thank you so much for reviewing I know that you know that I know that you know that I know that…. Okay… We both know how much it means to both of us who are one in the same.

**Virusea- **It is coming from both Ari and Taylor's point of view, if that helps clear anything up.

* * *

__

Chapter Nine: Of Memories and the Future

Still Flashing Back

All her life she had been told stories of the humans that were wild and lived in the forest, and for some strange reason Ari had always longed to meet one of these creatures even though she was suppose to be their enemy. Now that she was alone without family to protect her Ari was beginning to feel small and helpless, but very determined. With purpose in her stride she set off towards the forest with every intention of not going in very far, but far enough to be able to see if the rumors about wild humans were true. As she flitted in and out of the trees she lost all track of time and was soon quiet a ways into the forest, then all of the sudden a giant tree loomed in front of her.

It was the strangest tree she had ever seen. At the base, only a few feet from the ground, the limbs started to branch out making it easier to climb, but that was no problem for Ari. But it was not the tree or the branches that held Ari's rapt attention, but the fact that a small part of the base of the tree had been cut away and now the dirt was falling down. Without thinking she was down on her knees in the dirt trying to find out what was under the tree that was so important that it had to be hidden. After a few minutes of rapid digging her arms began to tire and she sat down at the base of the tree. Ari soon realized that it would be pointless to try to dig all the way to the bottom without a shovel or help from someone so that moment she vowed that before her life was over that she would find whatever secrets were buried beneath that tree. Suddenly she heard a sound behind her.

Ari whirled around to face the sound. A wild human stood before her, clad only in torn rags with a stick held in one hand, ready to strike. Fear paralyzed the young ape. Now she knew why she had been warned against coming into the forest alone. As Ari looked for some means of escape she realized that she was lost.

The human man had relaxed his grip on the stick slightly, upon discovering that it was only an ape child. As Ari was beginning to realize that was lost, a sort of compassion came over the man. Even though she was an ape he could not stand the thought of her being lost. "Lassa," he quietly called, "you can bring the children out. It is only an ape child."

With feigned unintrest Ari watched out of the corner of her eye as a lithe woman came into view. She was supporting an infant to her breast and holding the hand of a little girl who was probably five or six. "Karubi, are you sure it is safe? What if someone comes looking for it?"

"Its lost. No one would come this deep into the forest this late in the day."

"No responsible parent would allow their child to wonder alone, either."

It amazed Ari to hear humans speak so freely. "I'm not lost." Never show fear. That is what Nat had told her to do if she ever came across a wild human.

"Then which way is your home?" The man spoke directly to her.

Ari started to get up, but realized it would be no good. They knew that she didn't know where she was, so now she was at their mercy. Why did she feel she had just been rebuked by an adult of _all _apes were suppose to be better and smarter than human?

End Flashback

Taylor rolled over in her sleep and mumbled unintelligently, it broke through my thought process. "_All apes are better and smarter than humans."_ I mulled the phrase over in my mind. It was a basic rule that I had been taught in school. Then why, if I am smarter than Taylor, does she know so much more? This was a new and confusing idea for me.

I pushed aside and got ready for sleeping. My emotions were going crazy. Now that I was engaged- **engaged**- my heart leapt to my throat. I was engaged to my best friend. I was going to marry Thade and have his children. Children?! I was still only sixteen, how could I be married and raise children? _Calm down._ Taking a deep breath I blew out the candle I had been using for light as I wrote in my journal. I looked out my window, through my balcony at the dark sky, the stars were shining brightly. Finally I picked up my journal and stuffed it under my bed and through the darkness I found my sleeping clothes and climbed into bed. For a long time I laid awake wondering how much my life would change after I married Thade.

A/N: I know, this is a very short chapter, but a longer one is coming very soon. Just wanted to get everyone back in the groove of reading my story again and answer some questions. Thanks to all of you!


	10. Chapter Ten: A New Style

Adventure of the Planet of the Apes

Disclaimer: I don't own anything. I'm am even to poor to buy the Planet of the Apes Television series that Michael offered to send me for free. J

A/N: I know, the last chapter was incredibly short, but that's okay. Um, in college now that is fun. Not much more. The chapters will become more regular now that I am on a schedule.

**Enya-** I am very glad that I'm alive too. Lol. No, I just took a break from writing over the summer. And everyone should read _Stranger, _which is a newer ape fan fiction and it is completed. All the chapters aren't there yet, but it is all written. I helped! Personally I think it is really good, but it is about the Television series so if you haven't at least read the scripts I would do that.

Chapter Ten: A New Style

I was awake, but I didn't move. It was too dark for it to be time to get up yet. Then there was that strange dream that I had had last night about the _Planet of the Apes. _Talk about bizarre. Wait. Why am I laying on a cot, on the floor, in my clothes, looking up at a strange ceiling, when I should be in my bed, in my pajamas, looking up at a poster of Viggo Mortensen as Aragorn, King of Gondor. Maybe I was at Hannah or Sarah's. No, that couldn't be it. There were no glow-in-the-dark stars or posters of dolphins on the ceiling.

It wasn't a dream!

_Oh my, gosh._ Panic started to rise. I couldn't breath as I hyperventilated. It felt like my throat was swelling shut. Had I inadvertently touched something with latex in it? Did they even have latex here? _Don't freak out,_ I told myself. _If you really are going into anaphylaxis shock then you have your epi-pen in your backpack._ Slowly I made my body relax and began to take deep, even breaths to calm down.

My head, once again, decided that it was time to remind me that I had sustained a concussion the day before and now was suffering from a terrible headache. Slowly I sat up, trying to be as careful as possible with my head. No, this was definitely **not **my room. As I glanced over at the bed, suspended from the ceiling, I saw Ari. "Uh!" I startled myself by my groan of frustration. There was absolutely nothing for me to do until I heard someone else get up. Soon I became aware of the fact that I was very hungry, but there was nothing I could do about that either.

So I laid there on my cot, looking up at the ceiling and thinking about my family. Finally, I must have drifted back to sleep because when I awoke, Ari was just getting out of bed. I looked down at my wrist to see what it was, just out of habit because I never take my watch off. Alas! There was no watch on my wrist, on the bright white skin that had not been exposed all summer long.

"Oh, you're awake," Ari's voice startled me.

"Yes, I'm awake." _No, I'm sleep, but sitting up with my eyes open, _I thought sarcastically to myself.

"Hum," I turned my eyes downward as she gave me the once over, taking in every little detail. "You'll need different clothes, those will _never_ do." I suppressed the urge to roll my eyes. By forcing myself to clamp my jaws together I was able to bite back a couple of remarks that would be un-human on this planet. With mild interest and a healthy dose of curiosity I watched as Ari got ready for the day. After she was done getting dressed and grooming herself she pulled a leather bound book out from under her bed. It was a journal, I realized as I watched her begin to write. After a few minutes of me staring at her (what else could I do?) she sat her journal down. "Would you like to learn how to read and write?"

My first inclination was to tell her that I already knew how, but I realized that it wouldn't be very smart. "Isn't it illegal for humans to know how to read and write?"

Ari looked puzzled. "Well, no, its not."

I wanted to ask her why the, if it was not illegal, did humans not know how to read or write. "I'll try."

"Over here then." We both rose and walked over to a desk that was built into the wall. Ari opened a drawer and took out a few pieces of paper, a pen, and an ink well. "Here, watch closely." Because I thought that since I already knew how to read and write that I didn't really need to pay that close of attention to what she was doing. Well, I watched closely at how to dip the pen and get of the extra ink, but the writing couldn't be that different from what I was used to. As I paid attention to her style of writing, with thicker down strokes and thinner up strokes, I was reminded of calligraphy. "Now you try," Ari handed me the pen."

The capital "A" that was written on the sheet was far fancier than any I had ever attempted to write. So instead of trying to copy hers exactly I did a slight variation of my own, with less twirls and curls. Even so it was recognizable as an "A", but less formal.

"Well, you still need some work, but it is only your first time." Ari looked slightly disappointed.

_Thanks, _I thought, _you sure know how to boost a person's confidence. _"What is this?" I asked, pointing to the "A." Because of course, as a human I couldn't possibly know how to read.

"This is a capital 'A' and this is a lowercase 'a'," she explained while she wrote the small 'a.'

"What is the difference?"

"You use the capital letter to start a sentence or a proper name and you use the lowercase when it is part of a word or in the middle of a sentence."

"Show me."

"All right, 'The horse ran.'" She wrote it out. "See, here in the middle of ran, the 'a' is not capitalized, but if I write, 'A big rock' then you capitalize the first word. It doesn't matter what the word is you always capitalize it if it is first."

"What are these other letters?"

"Here, this is what we call the alphabet." Ari then proceeded to write out the entire alphabet for me. I must admit that she has beautiful handwriting and that the world of homework would be a much nicer place if everyone wrote as neatly as she did.

"Why is it called the al-f-a-bet?" I tried to sound like I was saying the word for the first time.

"I don't really know. I'd never really thought about that before."

I looked at the alphabet Air had written for me. _What would a normal human do? _I asked myself. _Your name._"How would you write my name?"

"Like this, T-A-Y-L-O-R." Ari spoke the letters out loud while she wrote them down.

"Hum," I lightly traced over the letters. The wet ink smeared slightly and adhered to my fingers.

"Now you try. Keep practicing while I'm gone. I'll be back to get you when it is the humans turn to eat breakfast." Before I could even reply Ari was gone and halfway down the stairs. The paper sat before me, blank and unmoving. I dipped the pointed tip of the pen into the ink and started to practice writing the alphabet. After a few tries my style of writing had improved, but my hand and arm were starting to cramp. I couldn't write sentence or anything because of my feigned ignorance. Then I realized what I corner I had painted myself into. Well, at least I could work on my signature. As I was about to write my name I realized that the apes, or at least what Ari was taught me, was not cursive.

"You're getting much better." I jumped at the sound of Ari's voice.

"Thank you."

"If you would like to go down to the kitchen now the rest of the humans are eating."

"Yes, ma'am." Very quickly I straightened the paper and wiped the pen clean. Then I walked down the back stairs to the kitchen.

A/N: I promise that the chapters will start getting longer again once I get back into Ari/Taylor mode and out of Pete/Alan/Galen mode. Lol. Well, not completely out of that mode, but more into my old style of writing. Hope to hear from lots of reviewers next time around. Goopy… you had better review!


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